Marlon Williams Announces Album Release Tour + Unveils Duet With Lorde 'Kāhore He Manu E'

Lyttelton songwriting superstar Marlon Williams (Kāi Tahu, Ngāi Tai) sure knows how to command our attention, announcing today a nationwide launch tour for his forthcoming album Te Whare Tīwekaweka, revealed in tandem with a new single featuring Aotearoa pop royalty Lorde aka Ella Yelich-O'Connor. He will be supported for all dates by collaborator and friend, Ōtautahi rap artist KOMMI (Kāi Tahu, Te-Āti-Awa), who worked closely with Williams to co-write the entirely te reo Māori record, a process which has taken five years — guided by the whakataukī (Māori proverb) "Ko te reo Māori, he matapihi ki Te Ao Māori" ("The Māori language is a window to the Māori world"). Joined onstage by his band The Yarra Benders plus special guest contributors to the album, Williams' May tour will include his inaugural headline performance at Tāmaki Makaurau's Spark Arena.

An expectedly gorgeous piano duet with Lorde, experience footage of both artists singing and recording 'Kāhore He Manu E' together (with background birdsong) in an excerpt from director Ursula Grace Williams' forthcoming feature documentary Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua - Two Worlds, screening in cinemas from 1st May. Te Whare Tīwekaweka is out in full on 4th April, preorder the album on vinyl LP / compact disc HERE, and join Williams with friends toasting the new record at these very special shows...

"'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; 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'.

As a songwriter, I cherish simplicity, but as a speaker of Māori, I had a bucketload of whakamā to push through before I could even approach my friend KOMMI about helping me write songs in Māori. We took this song out on the road with us five years ago and it just felt so damn good to play. I’m proud of it for reasons deeper than I’ve felt as a songwriter before. This song acted as a guiding light for the rest of the album to follow. I hope that music may do the mahi that conversation cannot, and that it may broaden and deepen our sense of interconnectedness". – Marlon Williams

"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". – Lorde

Marlon Williams Te Whare Tīwekaweka Tour 2025
With support from KOMMI

Friday 9th May – TSB Showplace, New Plymouth☐
Saturday 10th May – Regent on Broadway, Palmerston North*
Monday 12th May – Napier Municipal Theatre, Napier*
Tuesday 13th May – War Memorial Theatre, Gisborne*
Thursday 15th May – Holy Trinity, Tauranga△
Friday 16th May – Clarence Street Theatre, Hamilton*
Saturday 17th May – Sir Howard Morrison Centre, Rotorua△
Saturday 7th June – St James Theatre, Wellington△
Saturday 21st June – Spark Arena, Auckland△
Thursday 26th June – Regent Theatre, Dunedin◇
Saturday 28th June – Town Hall, Christchurch△

Presale for all Ticketek database members commences 12pm, Monday 3rd March. Sign up now.
Tickets for all shows on sale 12pm, Wednesday 5th March

*Tickets via ticketek.co.nz
△Tickets via ticketmaster.co.nz
☐New Plymouth tickets via eventfinda.co.nz
◇Dunedin tickets via regenttheatre.co.nz

Watch the official trailer for Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua - Two Worlds...

'Te Whare Tīwekaweka' is out in full on Friday 4th April, preorder the album on vinyl LP / compact disc HERE.