The name Lawrence Arabia is a New Zealand institution, at least for me. It’s one of the ten names that come to mind when someone says New Zealand music, though his music itself, unlike his name, has always sat at the fringes of my periphery.

I first heard of Lawrence Arabia when the New Zealand music stigma was strong in my mind and the mind of my peers. Being of a certain societal group that despised all things popular, the beginning was the wrong time for Lawrence Arabia to be introduced to me.

Alas, I have changed, and so have the times, so much so that there is a strong desire to escape the times through the espousal of the retro, for that sense of nostalgia and those memories of simpler times that such things bring.

Lawrence Arabia’s Absolute Truth is about as retro as it comes in this modern era. As if composed as love songs for a long lost generation. A forgotten time when music had substance, and it was more than a vehicle for the media’s next top model with a face made for lip-syncing. A time when words were sung, not shouted, composed with reverence, and there was meaning, not a list of catchphrases.

The album is weird and wonderful, a compilation of frivolously upbeat sways and quirky orchestrations. It’s almost like the Bee Gees, except falsetto is used here as an adornment, not the prevalent mode. But the Bee Gees reference is a cope out, an artefact of my mind convincing itself that Absolute Truth is a product of my parents’ era. There is no point comparing it to something you’ve heard, because there really isn’t anything quite like Lawrence Arabia. 

Maybe it’s not music that this generation will understand. You can drink and dance to it (a requirement for today’s pop) but the dance is a jaunty waltz or a saucy tango, and the drink an aged whiskey.

You can find a digital copy of Absolute Truth on the Lawrence Arabia Bandcamp Page, but considering the retro tone of this album, I’d suggest picking up a copy on vinyl (also available on the Bandcamp).

• 1
  Head Like A Hole
• 2
  Horror Story
• 3
  Fraser Ross
• 4
  Fur Patrol
• 5
  Michelle Rounds
• 6
  L.A.B.
• 7
  Devilskin
• 8
  Coridian
• 9
  The Boondocks
• 10
  Late to Chelsea

• 
  LOST BiRD @ Space Academy, Christchurch - 15/12/2024
• 
  Just Janie @ Space Academy, Christchurch - 15/12/2024
• 
  Dream Chambers @ Meow Nui, Wellington - 14/12/2024
• 
  The Phoenix Foundation @ Meow Nui, Wellington - 14/12/2024

• 1
  APT.
  ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
• 2
  DIE WITH A SMILE
  Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
• 3
  BIRDS OF A FEATHER
  Billie Eilish
• 4
  TASTE
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 5
  I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
  Gracie Abrams
• 6
  ESPRESSO
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 7
  SAILOR SONG
  Gigi Perez
• 8
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 9
  A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
  Shaboozey
• 10
  GOOD LUCK, BABE!
  Chappell Roan

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