‘Meaningless Words’ is No.7 Singles Club from Lawrence Arabia

22 August 2018

One of New Zealand’s most acclaimed songwriters returns to releasing music, but in a new way. Feeling strangled by music industry release norms of premieres, deadlines and embargoes on his music, Lawrence Arabia (James Milne) decided to take a step closer to his fans, sending them his new music as he makes it.

Milne describes his seventh offering Meaningless Words as an “ambiguous sketch,” typically underplaying the lushness of the recording of strings, brass and vocal overlays that form an epic rumination on the songwriting process and the current state of the world.

Adding to the Lawrence Arabia’s Singles Club stalwarts of Alistair Deverick on drums and James Dansey on mixing and mastering duties are supremely talented instrumentalists, Peau Halapua (violin), Tim Stewart from Hopetoun Brown (trumpet) and Jeff Henderson (clarinet/saxophones) also director of theAudio Foundation.

Lyrics:

Meaningless words

Throw them out into the void

For you to party

For to keep me employed

Just for my little one who wakes me up and makes me feel older

And wants to listen to the records of her favourite dead rockstars.

I lie asleep

Floating on the clover

The rents aren’t steep

Now society smoulders

And there is no one in whose eyes that we can do something wrong,