Apple Pie Bed – Lawrence Arabia Apple Pie Bed – Lawrence Arabia (Buy)

Prior to being acquainted with Lawrence Arabia’s US debut Chant Darling, I saw him and his “prime ministers” warm up the crowd at the Bowery Ballroom for a sold out Freelance Whales show. I instantly loved James Milne aka Lawrence Arabia. He has the swagger, voice and charm necessary in any musician.

That being said, I was quite excited to find out what he was made of on the recording side of things.  Chant Darling was released earlier this year and with that the comparison of Milne’s style to that of John Lennon, the Beach Boys and even The Sleepy Jackson. Kicking off the album, Like a Fool could easily pass as a Beatles cover.

Like a Fool features Milne describing the very foolish things he plans to do to show a lovely lady how much she means to him. His high pitched, perfectly in-tune voice is dreamy and enticing, especially when complimented by the simple guitar chords and drum beats that make up the instrumentals.

Also showing some influence 60s pop rock is Apple Pie Bed. A standout and a sure-fire favorite on this album, this track is catchy, upbeat and fun. Reminiscent of The Four Seasons’ falsetto harmonies, the chorus is stupidly simple, yet absolutely genius and right on key.

Eventually we arrive at The Beautiful Young Crew, the lead single on Chant Darling and any hipster’s dream. Reminding me a bit of The Kooks’ Young Folks, the theme of this little number is the love/hate relationship between a crew of companions. While the song is extremely repetitive, it manages to remain a frontrunner.

While I would consider most of these tracks hits, there were some misses as well. Auckland CBD had a little too much distortion to it for a recording, making it less enjoyable and strays a little to far out in comparison to the rest of the album. The Undesirables loses the listener before the song is halfway complete due to the overindulgence of the drowsy sounding hook, something The Crew of the Commodore also suffers from.

Milne’s US debut as Lawrence Arabia is a solid album, earning him a 7.5. He has the beautiful old-school charm that just exudes similarities some musical greats. That being said, this similarity is only present every so often on Chant Darling. If Milne is able to capture that essence found on tracks like Apple Pie Bed and Like a Fool, then his next album will be a sure fire hit, just like his live performances.

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