If you like Marlin’s Dreaming, then what a day it’s been for you: the Dunedin indie-pop band have announced their new album, dropped a new single and video, and confirmed a New Zealand and Australian tour.
Marlin’s Dreaming will release the newly announced HIRL later this year, the highly anticipated follow-up to 2021’s positively received Hasten.
Their forthcoming album will feature new single “Hello My Dear”, which offers a slight sonic departure from their usual swirling and dreamy palette.
Instead, “Hello My Dear” almost sounds like a post-Britpop cut – all wistful acoustic strums and softly whispered words – with frontman Semisi Ma’ia’i’s intimate vocals reminiscent of the innate aching that made Jeff Buckley’s voice so magnetic.
“‘Hello My Dear’ began as just a few chords on my acoustic and some verses, but It felt like the lyrics needed to go somewhere bigger,” Ma’ia’i explains. “De (guitar) helped build on my draft to form a song that touched on the more reserved, melancholic verses, but added depth and weight to meet the words.”
There’s always been an air of melancholy to Marlin’s Dreaming’s music, but this single and their previous release, the Erny Belle-featuring alt-country ballad “Earnestly”, might be two of their most beautifully sombre efforts yet.
Now based in Auckland, Mai’ia’i had his old hometown on his mind while creating “Hello My Dear”.
“Dunedin will always be home, but there’s a lethargy that comes with staying in a place a long time. After moving to Auckland I wanted to capture the influence that the place I live in has on me, both lyrically and also musically,” he says.
You can watch the accompanying music video for the band’s new single below. Directed by Ma’ia’i himself, the Proustian clip follows an ascetic artist cut off from the rest of the world, interacting with past and future versions of himself.
This September will see Marlin’s Dreaming tour across both Australia and New Zealand (read our chat with the band about their previous Australian visit), playing shows in Mount Maunganui, New Plymouth, Wellington, Auckland, Lyttelton, Dunedin, Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne (see full dates below).
Marlin’s Dreaming’s “Hello My Dear” is out now.
Marlin’s Dreaming 2024 Australia & New Zealand Tour
Tickets available via banishedmusic.com or nicheproductions.com.au
September 12th
Totara St., Mount Maunganui, NZ
September 13th
There Royal, New Plymouth, NZ
September 14th
Meow Nui, NZ
September 19th
Hollywood Avondale, Auckland, NZ
September 20th
Loons, Lyttelton, NZ
September 21st
Errick’s, Dunedin, NZ
September 26th
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney, NSW
September 27th
The Brightside, Brisbane, QLD
September 28th
The Nightcat, Melbourne, VIC
