Watch Hemi Hemingway's Video For New Single '(To Be) Without You'

It's time to make way for Hemi Hemingway aka Shaun Blackwell (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga), setting hearts aflame with absolutely stunning new single and video '(To Be) Without You', out today via Stockholm imprintl PNKSLM Recordings. Previewed over the weekend with a release party at Vogelmorn Upstairs, the songwriter / producer is every bit the movie star in the accompanying clip directed by Adam Joseph Browne, made with support from NZ On Air.

Hemi Hemingway cuts a striking figure consumed by passion, prowling the streets at night, boogieing all alone, and staring right through the camera lens into viewers' souls — crooning "I've got to learn to be without you" above an irresistible new wavy pulsing groove, further enlivened by fiery guitar, dramatic keys and noirish sax. Also frontman of post-punks Buffcat, the Pōneke-based artist peered through the mists of memory to share the origins of '(To Be) Without You'...

"With ‘(To Be) Without You’ I was thinking a lot about a trip I took to Greece in late 2022. In hindsight, there were signs that my life was really about to change; I was moving back to New Zealand, and I didn’t know what my future looked like. When I was writing this song the energy of it reminded me of Greece — especially Athens; the heat on the stone at night, the dark and empty alleys, beautiful people moving everywhere and lots of exposed skin. There was a mysterious timelessness to the city; it felt like a place that knows everything about you the moment you step foot there. I was carrying a hidden sadness while I was there, and it knew. ‘(To Be) Without You’ captures my worried mind and a feeling of longing to have that place and that time back again, to do things differently, but to have to instead make peace with my choices."

'(To Be) Without You' is out today on major streaming platforms via PNKSLM Recordings.