New Zealand singer-songwriter Marlon Williams has teamed up with Lorde for a new song, ‘Kāhore He Manu E’. It’s lifted from Williams’ first Māori language album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka, which was led by last month’s ‘Aua Atu Rā’. It also comes with an accompanying video taken from Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds, Ursula Grace Williams’ documentary about the making of the record. Check it out below.
“‘Kāhore He Manu E’ was one of those gentle labours,” Williams said in a statement. “It played itself out to me, easily and near complete from the first. It was also obvious who should be singing it; Ella’s voice in a very real sense wrote the song. The distinct and striking characteristics in her voice cornering and demanding of the melody and phrasing what only her voice could. Singing with Ella is incredible; the amount of mind she’s able to pour into the vessel. We got to know each other through sharing the highs and lows of touring life, and in a real sense this song is an ode to the colourful but grim wormhole of road life, to the friends made and lost in the folds of time, ‘visions lost in the blur.’”
Lorde added: “Over the course of several years I watched Marlon pull at the threads that became Te Whare Tīwekaweka. I saw that the further he got into the album, the deeper my friend came to know himself, his whānau and his world at large. Marlon is an undercover perfectionist, and he was never going to embark on this journey without turning over every stone, crafting complex waiata that speak to the past while also braiding in his characteristic humour and X-ray vision. Singing with Marlon is one of my favourite things to do on earth, whether we are tipsy backstage by a pool table or in a luscious studio, and I was honoured he asked me to sing with him on this album. I’m so proud of my friend.”
Te Whare Tīwekaweka is set for release on April 4.