LAWRENCE ARABIA
CHANT DARLING
Release 04/01/2010; Bella Union
One suspects Lawrence Arabia, or James Milne as his mother knows him, would consider the late 1970's microtonal noise experiments of Glenn Branca and Wharton Tiers to be 'new' and 'fangled'.
Milne is of the 'classic' school; a disciple of the period between 1965 and 1970 after which the dissolution of The Beatles ushered in the musical equivalent of Alaric and his mates - new people, lesser people overthrowing a great and established order through sheer force of aggression. He probably blames The Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience as fifth columnists.
Yet as admirable as it is to know of and seek inspiration from an increasingly distant cultural past there is something of a problem with the modern classic songwriter. Brian Wilson and John Lennon were experimental, massively so, whereas those who adopt a 40 year old template are not in anyway innovative. That is not to say that innovation and excitement go hand in hand but to so slavishly attach oneself to the music of the past seems to indicate a weltanschauung which shows lassitude for the essential youthfulness, the essential of-the-moment, that permeates all great popular music.
'Chant Darling' may lack the vital spark of great music but it is by no means a bad album, in fact less demanding ears may actually extract some enjoyment from it. The influence of Nilsson, The Beatles and The Beach Boys hang heavy over many of the songs here. Opening track 'Look Like A Fool' is a nice piece of All Things Must Pass style lawn music elevated further by a spidery guitar solo. 'The Undesirables' is pure White Album era Lennon, owing more than a little to 'Julia' and 'Dear Prudence' and is shot through with the requisite melancholy. 'Apple Pie Bed' aims for The Beatles but skews off target and ends up sounding more like Electric Light Orchestra while 'Eye A' could be something off Sgt. Pepper's if the Fab Four had belonged to the prozac generation rather than the LSD equivalent.
James Milne knows the classic 60's songwriters well enough to approximate their craft which results in an LP that is no great hardship on the ears but whether any genuinely unbridled outburst of excitement will be stirred by these songs remains open to question.
VOGELENZANGRANK: 7.10
Sample track - Lawrence Arabia - 'I've smoked too much'
Milne is of the 'classic' school; a disciple of the period between 1965 and 1970 after which the dissolution of The Beatles ushered in the musical equivalent of Alaric and his mates - new people, lesser people overthrowing a great and established order through sheer force of aggression. He probably blames The Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience as fifth columnists.
Yet as admirable as it is to know of and seek inspiration from an increasingly distant cultural past there is something of a problem with the modern classic songwriter. Brian Wilson and John Lennon were experimental, massively so, whereas those who adopt a 40 year old template are not in anyway innovative. That is not to say that innovation and excitement go hand in hand but to so slavishly attach oneself to the music of the past seems to indicate a weltanschauung which shows lassitude for the essential youthfulness, the essential of-the-moment, that permeates all great popular music.
'Chant Darling' may lack the vital spark of great music but it is by no means a bad album, in fact less demanding ears may actually extract some enjoyment from it. The influence of Nilsson, The Beatles and The Beach Boys hang heavy over many of the songs here. Opening track 'Look Like A Fool' is a nice piece of All Things Must Pass style lawn music elevated further by a spidery guitar solo. 'The Undesirables' is pure White Album era Lennon, owing more than a little to 'Julia' and 'Dear Prudence' and is shot through with the requisite melancholy. 'Apple Pie Bed' aims for The Beatles but skews off target and ends up sounding more like Electric Light Orchestra while 'Eye A' could be something off Sgt. Pepper's if the Fab Four had belonged to the prozac generation rather than the LSD equivalent.
James Milne knows the classic 60's songwriters well enough to approximate their craft which results in an LP that is no great hardship on the ears but whether any genuinely unbridled outburst of excitement will be stirred by these songs remains open to question.
VOGELENZANGRANK: 7.10
Sample track - Lawrence Arabia - 'I've smoked too much'