Lawrence Arabia - 'Chant Darling' (Bella Union) Released 04/01/10

Taking the nom de plume of Lawrence Arabia is James Milne with his sophomore release, 'Chant Darling'. Having cut his teeth as a member of The Brunettes, The Ruby Suns and one time touring member of Okkervil River, Milne returns with a globetrotting romp of witty folk-pop - ersatz and derivative, but oh so catchy! Milne's vocals bear the harmonising prescience of Grizzly Bear and the other-worldly charm of John Lennon, while Pacific-lilts alongside The Plastic Ono Band and a Vampire Weeeknd-like thrust carry the melody-rich album of 'Chant Darling', but its' Milne's witty asides and askance observations that seem lifted from the foot-falls of The Kinks Ray Davies on the streets of London.

It's a song-writing charm that characterises the singularity of 'Chant Darling'. Recorded over 18 months in a studio in Stockholm, three flats in London, a garden shed in Port Chalmers, a car club in Wellington and a studio in Auckland, 'Chant Darling' reprises the notions of the 3 minute wonders of song-craft. On the lowing Beach Boys-like harmonies of 'Look Like A Fool', Milne tells a tale of misplaced affection and puke rounded off with a call to his best friends Dad to bring the evening to a close, and the catchy single 'Beautiful Young Things' comes from his the outsiders eye gawping the too-cool-for-school Shoreditch hoi palloi, while 'The Undesirables' is a cautionary song like a parental aria delivered with Grizzly Bear-esque panache - "...I'll let you go out, you can look after yourself, just leave the undesirables alone...".

The dreamy 'The Crew Of The Commodore' takes a trip to the stars with John Martyn/Danny Thompson and Elliott Smith as flight crew, while the funky 'Fine Old Friends' is an unabashed work of Plastic Ono Band indie-pop licks par excellence. It's the honed riffs though of the jaunty 70's glam-pop smash 'Apple Pie Bed' that has H.I.T. written over its' smug chubby chops, but the lusty 'Auckland CBD' really packs the rumbles with tropicala and carousels shuffling its' sun-kissed ass, and the song-smithery to the fore on 'I've Smoked Too Much' is a fine invention where - "...I find my toenails need clipping, my tongue is numb, my nose has been dripping, I've been sniffing for a thousand weeks now...", all self-delusions, a delirious dread of mortality, delivered with a Smile-era aplomb.

It's not all top grade though. 'Eye A' is a fey attempt at Brit-vérité that trips on the paving with its' talk of O.B.E.'s and cemeteries,  but with such sweet pop joys throughout heavy criticism just doesn't carry much weight. Milne's keen eye for detail packs a cherry of a tune to close in 'Dream Teacher' - a song of adolescent lust with a cavernous Grizzly Bear-like feel talking of a desire for private detention, its' the kind of wit that combined with the sweet harmonising of Milne's takes 'Chant Darling' from a farming nation to the international stage.