New Zealand -- indie pop, with a slick '60s Brill Building kinda songcraft. Beautifully ornate arrangements (lush strings, '60s poppy-sad sound.) Gloom filtered and steady. Lawrence Arabia is James Milne (the Brunettes; he's played bass for Okkervil River; toured with Feist). This is REALLY cool stuff.

RIYL Belle & Sebastian, Jon Brion, Serge Gainsbourg, Scott Walker...

No FCCs.

1 (4:13) ***** Phil Spector-esque string opening. Catchy chorus, with swooning strings and some sharp staccato, joined by faint backing group. "He's gotta go away..."
2 (3:32) * Mid-tempo groove, absurd falsetto alternates with more natural singing. Soft piano break midway. Ends with prolonged string lament.
3 (3:12) *** Damped, bouncy guitar, reedy spooky vocals. Haunted-pop atmosphere. Strings subdued, only at vocal breaks. Grows richer, vocal back-up and swooning violins enter.
4 (2:31) * Spare vocals over piano, spooky, slow and mopey. Joined by ghost-chorus at times, but not too much going on--
5 (3:43) A little dancier, synthier, '80s-funky sound, but sparse. I could take it or leave it. Some good moments, but it lacks the '60s/strings goodness. Becomes chorus, all '60s-echoey at 2:20.
6 (4:41) *** Quiet intro. Slowish walk, draggy high vocals, strings join. Keeps the tempo going in leisurely groove, with friscalating violins taking over.
7 (4:35) ** Cool stroll, muted horns. Low energy, straight-ahead, until 2 minutes in: some nice twinkling bells, and it pulls forward a bit.
8 (2:27) ** Instrumental. Strummy open, then muted bouncy trumpet, become a dissonant brass section.
9 (5:55) * Fuzzy guitar, pipey multi-tracked male vocals. Slinky strings. Calms down into a prolonged relaxed piano outro, including sentimental strings.

-Hervey Okkles
12/8/2012