LAWRENCE ARABIA | ARTIST

Lawrence Arabia is the pseudonym of Christchurch, New Zealand-born artist and singer-songwriter James Milne. Since the release of his first album in 2006, Lawrence Arabia has become one of the pre-eminent figures of New Zealand’s musical landscape.

In his early-twenties, Milne had a musical apprenticeship as a bassist and multi-instrumentalist in Auckland indie-pop combo The Brunettes, touring Australia, the UK and the US, and eventually signing to legendary US label Sub Pop. During the making of The Brunettes’ Sub Pop debut, “Structure And Cosmetics,”

Milne left the band to focus on his twin solo projects, Lawrence Arabia and The Reduction Agents and relocated to the UK in late 2006. Touring the UK and Europe he supported The Concretes, Okkervil River and Feist, all the while working on his breakthrough record, “Chant Darling,” which was released worldwide in 2009/10 on Bella Union, and featured the popular song “Apple Pie Bed,” which won the APRA Silver Scroll, New Zealand’s top songwriting award. 

The album won the inaugural Taite Music Prize in early 2010. In 2012, Lawrence Arabia released “The Sparrow,” a more minimal and moody collection of piano-driven songs built around live studio takes and string orchestrations. The album won a New Zealand Music Award (Tui) for Best Male Solo album. He followed it up in 2016 with “Absolute Truth,” an album of immaculately crafted vintage indie-pop, released on Flying Nun Records, which won the Tui for Best Alternative album.