Lawrence Arabia almost having dinner with a rabbit
Words Barnaby Smith
One of the many, lovely consequences of the success of Flight of the Conchords was a flood of interest in the ostensibly innocuous New Zealand indie film Eagle vs Shark, starring Jemaine Clement. A comedy about the dysfunction and parochialism of rural New Zealand, its soundtrack was a revelation. It had Devendra Banhart and M Ward, but outshining both were Kiwis The Reduction Agents, whose main man Lawrence Arabia is now London-based, supporting Feist on tour and about to release his eponymously-titled debut, a spectacularly offbeat mix of Beatles-electro-prog-folk-psych-lounge-indie. Believe it.
“It was kind of a caricature,” says Lawrence Arabia, aka James Milne, of the film, “but it’s an accurate caricature of the awkwardness that exists in those places. I found the movie almost sadder than funny, because the depiction rang true.”
Milne is from Christchurch, but spent most of his time in bands (The Brunettes, as well as The Reduction Agents) in Auckland. In the midst of the colossal struggle to survive as a musician in New Zealand, he befriended Okkervil River, and played bass with them when they toured the Land of the Long White Cloud.
That such bands even go to New Zealand at all might seem odd, but, as the rest of the world is now noticing, there is something of a renaissance for sophisticated pop going on there right now. As well as Lawrence, The Ruby Suns and Connan and The Mockasins have met with a kind reception in Europe while Liam Finn is making considerable waves in the US.
“Perhaps it’s the small size of the population,” suggests Milne, “the artistic community clings together in a way it can’t over here. I guess there’s also the general beauty and space of the place that makes it freer: there’s just some block that gets lifted when you’re in that environment.”
His record is a fascinating listen, despite the fact he unexpectedly describes it as “quite conservative”. Not that there aren’t a few weird lyrical titbits thrown in, mind. They’re typical of an artist forced to develop an imagination in the face of relative cultural isolation, and they led to one reviewer to compare him with The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
“I suppose the lyrics are fairly comedic and stylistically it’s pretty diverse like the Bonzos,” he says, “but it’s nowhere near as overtly funny. Perhaps as close as it comes is ‘Everyone’s Had Dinner With Rabbit’, which is pretty silly.”
