{"id":330590,"date":"2025-12-06T01:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T01:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330590\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T01:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T01:54:09","slug":"foley-thats-life-baby-rolling-stone-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330590\/","title":{"rendered":"Foley, ‘That’s Life, Baby!’ – Rolling Stone Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where to begin with Marlon Williams\u2019 profoundly personal fourth album? Perhaps with the opening line in our review<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cTe Whare T\u012bwekaweka is the album we\u2019ve all been waiting for from Marlon Williams \u2014 a stunning ode to love, life, and connection, sung entirely in te reo M\u0101ori.\u201d<\/p>\n

As captured in an accompanying documentary, this album meant more to Williams than any record that came before \u2014 \u201cWilliams, as you\u2019ve never heard him before,\u201d the headline to our print interview<\/a> with him read.<\/p>\n

Williams could have taken the easy route after the success of 2022\u2019s chart-topping My Boy, but Te Whare T\u012bwekaweka represented the more ambitious and meaningful path forward.<\/p>\n

How it paid off: Williams\u2019 first album of original songs written and performed entirely in te reo M\u0101ori is a wonderful example of celebrating one\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n

From the opening notes of \u201cE Maweha Ana Au\u201d onwards, Williams invites the listener on his journey of self-discovery.<\/p>\n

Because this album may be intensely personal but it\u2019s also for everyone; Williams didn\u2019t hole up in a recording studio himself, after all, instead working closely with his band, the Yarra Benders, and Lyttelton artist KOMMI.<\/p>\n

You can hear Williams\u2019 connection to the material with every te reo lyric, the sense of a higher purpose being channelled through his art.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis voice packs a velvet punch, rolling over breezy country-bluegrass strums and simple, pop-tinged melodies. Williams\u2019 album is indebted to the late Hirini Melbourne\u2019s minimalist style. Add the rich choral harmonies of He Waka K\u014dtuia, and these waiata hit deep \u2014 like a warm embrace that calls you home to te ao M\u0101ori,\u201d our review continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe title, which translates to \u2018A Messy House\u2019, sums up the creative chaos perfectly \u2014 it\u2019s where M\u0101ori and non-M\u0101ori voices come together to craft something fresh\u2026. Te Whare T\u012bwekaweka is a celebration of M\u0101ori culture, but it\u2019s also for anyone looking to reflect, heal, and feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Te Whare T\u012bwekaweka\u00a0is a modern Aotearoa classic, and a reminder to always follow your spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where to begin with Marlon Williams\u2019 profoundly personal fourth album? Perhaps with the opening line in our review:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-330590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}