Lawrence Arabia Announces 'Chant Darling' Tour + Vinyl Reissue

Co-mastermind of the recent Chabs & Milky audio-visual extravaganzas, Lawrence Arabia aka James Milne is getting back to his roots with a nationwide tour celebrating the forthcoming re-release of his breakout second album Chant Darling, pressed onto vinyl LP for the first time ever. Launched to significant international acclaim in 2009, Milne was awarded the inaugeral Taite Music Prize for his sophomore studio long player, while instant classic single 'Apple Pie Bed' (still ubiquitous today) won the inimitable former leader of the Reduction Agents the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll award.

Journeying throughout Aotearoa in September, Lawrence Arabia with full band will 'doing' Chant Darling in it's entirely, plus a selection of deep cuts and live faves — impishly described by the artist as "the latest and best of a recent plague of anniversary vinyl re-release tours." They'll be joined by special guests 2021 Auckland Live Best Independent Debut winners Na Noise for all dates, making for an all-killer double-punch proposition you'd have to be crazy to miss. Limited to 500 copies, the Chant Darling vinyl LP is available for pre-order now HERE — grip the tour details below...

UPDATE 27/10/21: Lawrence Arabia' has announced a new set of dates for his forthcoming Chant Darling tour with Na Noise, now happening in January / February / March 2022...

UnderTheRadar proudly presents...

Lawrence Arabia Does Chant Darling
with special guests Na Noise

Thursday 13th January - Loons, Lyttelton
Friday 14th January - Grainstore Gallery, Oamaru
Saturday 15th January - Sherwood, Queenstown
Sunday 16th January - Dive, Dunedin
Friday 18th February - San Fran, Wellington
Saturday 19th February - St Peters Hall, Paekākāriki
Sunday 20th February - Paisley Stage, Napier
Thursday 3rd March - Last Place, Hamilton
Friday 4th March - Pt Chev RSA, Auckland

Tickets available via Banished Music 

Experience the classic video for 'Apple Pie Bed' from Chant Darling...

The 'Chant Darling' vinyl reissue hits record stores on Friday 3rd September.

Press release:

Believed by the artist to be 'the latest and best of a recent plague of anniversary vinyl re-release tours' Lawrence Arabia has decided to 'do' Chant Darling live, celebrating the 12 & 1/2 year gap since the release of the first ever Taite Music Prize winning album, and a whole eighth of a century in the market.

This September, Lawrence Arabia and full band go all out on the road with a long awaited vinyl release, and a flurry of shows featuring the album played in full, alongside a selection of Lawrence's deepest cuts, and biggest bangers.

Fuzz-pop three-piece Na Noise, recent winners of the Auckland Live Best Independent Debut, will be the very special guests for the duration of the tour.

Since the release of his first album in 2006, Lawrence Arabia (aka James Milne) has become one of the pre-eminent figures of Aotearoa’s musical landscape, releasing five critically acclaimed and garlanded solo albums alongside a variety of diverse collaborative work.

His breakthrough second record, Chant Darling, released worldwide in 2009/10 on Bella Union, snared the inaugural Taite Music Prize in early 2010, and featured the smash hit “Apple Pie Bed,” which won the APRA Silver Scroll, New Zealand’s top songwriting award. Throughout 2009/10, Lawrence and his band performed almost 100 shows in Europe and North America in support of “Chant Darling,” including tours and performances with Beach House, Cate Le Bon, Flight Of The Conchords and Crowded House, sessions for BBC Radio 2, 4 and 6Music, an NPR Tiny Desk Concert and a KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic session.