Marlon Williams, the New Zealand born soul crooner whose self-titled breakout album drops today, isn’t just a throw back. Sure, his slicked back hair, tight fitting Brando style tees and general ruggedness may suggest a yearning for 1950s Americana, but this vocal prodigy from the Southern Hemisphere is merely singing from the heart, which can transcend time and space and musical genres. In his voice and vocal style, there are also strains of religious spirituals that can be tied to his family’s Maori upbringing (his father was a Maori punk singer) and singing in church choirs. Click here to read more.
Watch The Insane Music Video For New Zealand Sensation Marlon Williams' Track "Hello Miss Lonesome"
New Zealand artist Marlon Williams will release his self-titled, debut album on February 19th on Dead Oceans. With his exceptionally versatile and evocative voice, Williams truly inhabits his material and presents a remarkably assured and diverse debut. The album’s rollicking, acrobatic opening, “Hello Miss Lonesome,” features Williams’ vocals soaring atop bluegrass guitars and a tight snare. It’s accompanying video, directed by Damien Shatford, is a heady visual counterpart presenting Miss Lonesome as an emotional chameleon, dragging Williams through a confusing internal space. Five different actors, each with the same aesthetic but different emotional rules, comprise Miss Lonesome. One may notice nods to Todd Solondz’s “Palindromes,” or that famous bathhouse scene in “Eastern Promises.”