Enigmatic Lawrence Arabia comes to town

Lawrence Arabia will bring banter, three-part harmonies and the occasional loud noise to Wanganui tomorrow. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Wanganui Savage Club has pulled off a bit of a coup with its concert Saturday night.

Lawrence Arabia brings his nationwide tour to the venue just a week after being nominated for two awards at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.

Despite the moniker, being occasionally seen in Middle Eastern robes and working under the Honorary Bedouin Records mantle, Arabia is Christchurch-born and something of an enigmatic cult figure on the New Zealand music scene.

He is bringing a multi-talented four-piece band to Wanganui for what is his first NZ tour since last July, and one which features shows at cities and towns outside the main centres. His last album, The Sparrow, was released last year and received plenty of plaudits from the press, including Britain's Sunday Times making it "CD of the Week". It was also iTunes NZ's New Zealand Album of the Year 2012 and a Taite Music Prize nomination.

Since releasing his debut album in 2006, Lawrence Arabia has toured extensively in Europe, Australia and North America, including tours with Feist, Beach House, Okkervil River and Crowded House, and in 2009 his song Apple Pie Bed won the APRA Silver Scroll, while the album it came from, Chant Darling, won the inaugural Taite Music Prize.

Arabia has recently returned from touring Europe, doing shows with The Phoenix Foundation and a special theatre show in Stockholm, Sweden, organised by Peter Moren of Peter Bjorn and John, and incorporating local musicians and a string trio.

While his most recent major project has been fatherhood, he did record a song commissioned by the Aarhus Festival in Denmark, entitled Sweet Dissatisfaction, which was the inspiration for a film made especially for the festival by American alt-country musician and filmmaker Jim White.

He also reassembled his band and accompanying string quartet for a sold-out show at the Christchurch Arts Festival this September. At the Savage Club, he will cover guitar, piano and vocals, with Tom Watson on lead guitar, trumpet and vocals, Hayden Eastmond-Mein on bass guitar and vocals, and Alistair Deverick on drums and vocals. It promises to be a thrilling 90-minute show of original music, abundant with banter and three-part harmonies, wit, beauty and occasional loud noises. Cassette songwriter Tom Watson will play a support set.

Lawrence Arabia, Whanganui Musicians Club at the Savage Club Hall, Saturday, November 2.