Listen to MĀ's New Album 'Blame It On The Weather'

One of the most anticipated local releases of 2025 so far, MĀ aka Maarire Brunning-Kouka (Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Raukawa) achieves majestic heights on the Te Whanganui-a-Tara neo-soul / jazz / hip-hop artist's second studio album Blame It On The Weather. Attracting widespread acclaim with 2021's debut Breakfast With Hades and standout performances across Aotearoa with her live group The Fly Hunnies, MĀ returns comet-like four years later with a multi-layered work "about Te Taiao, climate emergency awareness, my job as a kaitiaki, and the many connections that lie between" — rapped and sung in te reo Māori and English. Recorded with co-producers Leonardo Coghini, Marika Hodgson, Karnan Saba and a crack team of session musicians, MĀ's new record has a communal celebratory feeling, welcoming on board guest contributors Mato Wayuhi (Oglala Lakota), Jordyn With A Why, MAJIC, Iris Little, LILA, Leonardo Coghini, and DJ WYNONA.

MĀ name checks her day job work as a biodiversity ranger on the caffeinated beat-driven 'Mahi', declaring "I'm here for the art, the sweat and the labour". She soulfully laments "I thought you were a guest on my land / I guess that wasn't the plan," landing a decolonial gut-punch within the gospel-like ambience of 'Traps Jam'. MĀ raps "I'll blame it on the weather then I'll blame it on your kin" on jazz-inflected climate emergency title-drop 'BIOTW' ("The numbers don't lie"), while the all te reo 'Pūha me te Porohewa' confronts the "ignorance and racism" of our present right wing government (check out the Waita Anthems mini-documentary below). An album of consistent peaks and tough truths, go catch MĀ and The Fly Hunnies touring Blame It On The Weather nationwide from this Thursday onwards, with all-killer special guests...

"Breakfast With Hades was me proving that I could make something on my own. But this album is proving that I’m asking for help and trying to put something together within my community that I’m a part of now.

... What are we gonna do when the whenua (land) decides that it doesn't want to hold us any more, that it can't take care of us any more? It's just my perspective on what I see every day at mahi and how I feel". - MĀ in conversation with The Post

MĀ & The Fly Hunnies - Blame It On The Weather Tour

Thursday 3rd April - Big Fan, Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland, with spdrtwnbby
Friday 4th April - The Yard, Whāingaroa / Raglan, with Chase Woods
Friday 11th April - Lyttelton Coffee Co., Ōhinehou / Lyttelton, with KOMMI
Saturday 12th April - Pearl Diver, Ōtepoti / Dunedin, with Te Kahuorangi
Saturday 26th April - Meow, Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington, with Lila, DJ tāku*

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR
*Ticket details via linktr.ee/maaofficialmusic

'Blame It On The Weather' is out now on major streaming platforms.