Whilst the sleeves of many artists are adorned with well-worn hearts as they release their complete albums into the world, as New Zealand born singer-songwriter Lawrence Arabia, James Wilne's latest project offers a rare glimpse into the creative process through 12 separate Lawrence Arabia's Singles Club releases - now available on one handy LP and bringing together an extensive list of VIP members. One day in late 2017, at his home in Auckland, James sent a message on a whim and suddenly found himself in an email tête-à -tête with Van Dyke. A "lullaby for neurotic adults", 'Just Sleep (Your Shame Will Keep)" was originally written for Arabia's psychedelic comedy podcast sensation, "Mysterious Secrets Of Uncle Bertie's Botanarium," but took on a new lease of life with the addition of Van Dyke's piano, accordion, scratch woodwind, and double bass. Constructed in Lawrence Arabia's revered bedroom recording style, each Singles Club offering was built with ruthless ambition. "Everything's Minimal", "Cecily", "Meaningless Words", and "Oppositional Democracy" began through the course of the year and were completed in the following months whilst other songs were revived from rough demos that followed 2016's Absolute Truth as quickly and instinctually as possible. Bound with one seamless invisible thread, the album stands as a body of work capturing a moment in time. Like those buildings with their structure on the outside, Lawrence Arabia's Singles Club exposes the inner-workings of what it takes to create a record and offers any member a one-way ticket to Dreamsville. "I'm delighted at how it all ended up flowing," he tells. "I treated it like making a mixtape in extreme slow motion, so tried to make each song respond to the previous one the way you might when choosing a DJ set on the fly. Except this set was one year long, only twelve songs, and the songs had to be written and produced before they could be played. " Lawrence Arabia has previously released albums on Bella Union and Flying Nun. Van Dyke Parks on the project: "As inviting as the honk of the Good Humor Man of the '50s, who toodled his ice-cream truck through neighborhoods of my youth. Such tune-smithery simply isn't for tyros. It takes real savvy to pull it off. James Milne is equipped for such craft. I was delighted to feel attached to such a talented work, a notch above, and so plainly fanciful. Dreamsville!"
