Watch MOKOTRON's Video For New Single 'WAEREA'

One of, if not the most innovative works of claymation this viewer has ever witnessed, MOKOTRON's (Ngāti Hine) video for new single 'WAEREA' unfolds before eyes and ears like a revelation. Animator Simon Ward with uku artist Stevei Houkāmau (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) sculpt an audio-visual experience akin to a convergence of zoetropic / stop-motion worlds. Carved with marks expressing the waiata's intention / prayer to escape from the endless cycle of colonial trauma and violence, earthy textures spin like a record to produce illusory wagon-wheel effects — simultaneously moving forward and backwards through our digital screen spaces, as 'WAEREA' devastates bass bins.

The title track to MOKOTRON's forthcoming new album launching via Sunreturn on 6th December (preorder the vinyl LP edition HERE), 'WAEREA' follows the animated masterpiece that is August's SRN chart-topping 'ŌHĀKĪ'. Read about the kaupapa of 'WAEREA' from the artists involved below, cross fingers for record release shows, and go catch Ward's contribution to the forthcoming Kiriata Me Puoro - An Animation And Music Festival at Tāmaki Makaurau's Double Whammy on 16th November (grab tickets HERE)...

“I wrote WAEREA in the days after the passing of my father. At the end of his funeral the brother Rōpata said the waerea, the prayer over the car that had carried his body, to clear away any lingering negative energy. It struck me as ridiculous – here we were saying the waerea for a motor vehicle – what about the waerea for me? Who would clear away the lingering effects of trauma and violence that would pass down in my psyche and DNA to my children? This waiata is not a lament, it’s about clearing away these things I carry – hurt, shame, belittlement, violence, so I can stand as my own person in my own mana.

My waiata are a sonic structure representing urban marae in Central Auckland, I use three instruments panned left, centre and right – pūtōrino, hue and koauau, to represent the three kuia from Ngāti Whātua who have supported me to speak on those marae. For WAEREA I played these instruments to express the murmur of grief, the call of the rūrū representing death and a distressed cry of anguish.” - MOKOTRON

“The collaboration on WAEREA was effortless and symbiotic. MOKOTRON drove the collab with their kaupapa and kōrero and I felt my job was to then take this story and express it through the clay. MOKOTRON gave so much room to interpret and experiment that it allowed myself and Simon to wānanga, share kōrero and find a way forward. To have 3 artists that are pushing the boundaries of their art forms and they can find that spark, well that's the magic right, cause this music video is exactly that.” - Stevei Houkāmau

“I learnt so much making this video. Stevei’s art form is new to me and it was amazing to learn more about the depth of meaning in the markings, materials and processes that go into her work. That matched the depth in MOKOTRON’s track really well, so it was a smooth process to weave the kaupapa of the song into the art and video presentation.” - Simon Ward

MOKOTRON's new album 'WAEREA' launches on Friday 6th December via Sunreturn, vinyl LP preorders available HERE.