New Zealand quintet The Loving Arms serve up a distinctly Antipodean take on alt-country-soul, and the audiences who have been treated to their live shows revel in it.
Ghost Records is thrilled to announce that what these fans have been lapping up for the past two years is now collected on an album. The Loving Arms has been one of Auckland's best-kept secrets for a while, but with the buzz building around Dreaming Over You, they're fast becoming a hot ticket.
When it came to recording Dreaming Over You, The Loving Arms weren't short of material, but producer Kerry Furlong of Red Trolley Studios was only interested in songs that bear repeat listens. He culled (and culled), and crafted the tracks that made the cut intoa defiantly contemporary yet classic space, where lap steel harmonises with synth.
Working with Neil Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House, Fleetwood Mac) as a live engineer taught Furlong something about the virtues of juggling perfection and spontaneity. Sometimes the wrong take is right, and vice versa.
And Furlong wasn’t interested on crafting a pastiche of Americana. He was about the songs. If they looked good naked, they could wear anything.
Between them The Loving Arms have been in many fine New Zealand bands including Smoothy, Ghost Town, Sugar Hits, The Hitlist, The Pet Rocks, Dean Savage, Love Sector, Black Doris and Bitumen Waltz.
The album also features some special guests: Jeffry Lancaster (guitars), John Segovia (slide guitar), James McCarthy (percussion), Dave Khan (strings, fiddle), and Jed Town (EBow).
As fans of artist Reuben Paterson, the band approached him for the album cover. Paterson generously offered the use of his beautiful piece 'Take My Hand and Off We Stride', a glitter on canvas gem from 2004. (Unfortunately the LP production process can’t re-create a glitter finish.)
Dreaming Over You was produced by Kerry Furlong and recorded at Red Trolley studio in Auckland, and is released via Ghost Records.
Drummer Bryan Shaw is also a renowned film editor, and has made some gorgeous videos for The Loving Arms
Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile
Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelovingarms