Lawrence Arabia intent on testing new waters

Lawrence Arabia is shunning modern music recording technology. Photo / File

James Milne, aka Lawrence Arabia, will take the stage in Hawke's Bay, as he tests the waters outside New Zealand's main centres for the first time in his career.

"I have always wanted to get there, it just never quite worked out," Milne told Vibe. "I have got a few friends in Te Awanga and they were like 'you have to come and play here', but the timing was bad or I was touring with a string quartet."

The singer, songwriter and now fulltime dad, was recently nominated for two Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards - Best Male Solo Artist and Best Alternative Album, for his 2012 offering, The Sparrow.

"It's definitely an unusual honour to be accepted at that level of the music industry," he said.

Venturing away from the harmony-laden, classic pop production of Chant Darling, his third album is more measured and minimalist, drawing influence from the symphonic works of Scott Walker and Serge Gainsbourg.

"I'd been turned off by the infinite possibilities of Pro Tools production by the process of making my last album, you can mimic any sound from any part of pop history and stack them up on endless tracks and edit them in endless ways.

"I became totally enamoured with the mystique and aesthetic limitations of these late-sixties and early-seventies records where there was so much space in the arrangements and you can really luxuriate in the sounds of individual instruments."

The record has been named Sunday Times' (UK) CD Of The Week, iTunes New Zealand Album Of The Year and was nominated for a Taite Music Prize.

A spin-off album release tour saw him travel to Australia, New Zealand, North America, the UK and Europe during the latter half of 2012; in May this year he was in Europe with The Phoenix Foundation.

In July he recorded a track commissioned by the Aarhus Festival in Denmark, entitled Sweet Dissatisfaction, which inspired a film made by American alt-country musician and filmmaker, Jim White.

Milne reassembled his four piece band and accompanying string quartet for a sold-out show at the Christchurch Arts Festival; now they are hitting the road with Milne on piano and vocals, Tom Watson on lead guitar, trumpet and vocals, Hayden Eastmond-Mein on bass guitar and vocals, and Alistair Deverick on drums and vocals.

They are performing at The Cabana in Napier tomorrow night from 8pm.

People can expect to hear harmonies in a melodic pop genre, which is designed to make the listener feel good, says Milne.

Tickets are $15, from undertheradar.co.nz