Today, Marlon Williams and Lorde havw shared their collaboration on “Kāhore He Manu E,” which is the next single and video from William‘s first Māori language album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka, that will be out on April 4. The video is pulled from Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds, the forthcoming documentary film by Ursula Grace Williams about the making of the record and the video is window into the recording process, friendship and collaboration between Williams and Lorde.
When Williams was having difficulty writing an album in English, he found that switching to his other ancestral tongue, which while not fluent, unlocked a new means of self-expression and felt like an important act of reclamation. He spent five years creating Te Whare Tīwekaweka by reconnecting with family, friends and his hometown of Lyttelton after a globe-trotting decade establishing his career. The inspiration he found in those people can be seen throughout the record, including on “Kāhore He Manu E.”
“‘Kāhore He Manu E’ was one of those gentle labours. It played itself out to me, easily and near complete from the first. It was also obvious who should be singing it; Lrode’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 Lorde is incredible because if 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.’”
Photo Credit: Nicole Ditt
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