Watch Dudley Benson's Animated Video For 'Matariki'

A month into the Māori New Year, Ōtepoti alt-pop artist Dudley Benson has shared a visual component to Zealandia stand-out 'Matariki'. The clip is the creative collision of Benson himself and Tokyo-based New Zealand artist and animator Emile Holmewood. Given the track already delves into big ideas like tikanga - the connection people have with their ancestors - Holmewood honed in on the broader theme of landforms and geology that is woven through Benson's 2018 album. Additionally, there's ongoing symbolism of the meaning of Matariki itself, with constellation and Mata Riki (little eyes) motifs dotted throughout. Benson summed up the video in conversation with The Clash as "a bit like walking through time and space, and being part of the creation and destruction of everything-millennia in a few minutes".

In the same week, Benson has also announced UK, Europe, Australia and Aotearoa tours, a feat that has been on the back-burner considering the mammoth task of translating Zealandia into a live performance, an album with over one hundred and sixty contributors including the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, The New Zealand Youth Choir, and GNS Science geologists. Take your time absorbing the poetic visuals for 'Matariki' below…