Best New Zealand Music of the Week: April 20th-26th

Stay up to date with New Zealand music with Rolling Stone AU/NZ’s weekly roundup.

Check out the best new music from Aotearoa acts released between April 20th-26th below.

Deva Mahal — “Someone’s Daughter”

Pōneke-based musician Deva Mahal drops the final single from her new EP, FUTURE CLASSIC VOL 11: FUTURE.

“I wanted to tear them all down with my voice,” Mahal says of the powerful ballad. “To write something that could pierce through their souls and demand that our humanity be seen and respected.

“I’m demanding your attention in this song and daring you not to feel something profound. I’m demanding that you see us. See Black women and all marginalised women as humans who deserve to feel safe in this world. We are not just a statistic, a body, a number.”

Rhian Sheehan, Arli Liberman — “Specular (Zuke Remix)”

Producer Zuke puts their singular spin on a reworking of “Specular”, a track which originally appeared on Rhian Sheehan and Arli Liberman’s collaborative album Traces.

The Veils — “Aurora”

Finn Andrews continues the buildup to his new album, Fragile World, with a new single and music video from award-winning director Alexander Gandar.

“This song was written as it was being recorded, which is a very rare thing for me,” he shares. “The day we made it, there was a huge geomagnetic storm over parts of New Zealand, and the pictures of the aurora that followed were in all the papers. Sometimes things are so beautifully simple.”

Zoë Vera — Live Harder EP

One of Aotearoa’s most exciting rising pop stars showcases her promise on Live Harder.

“This EP is so incredibly special to me,” Vera says. “I wrote the final title track of the EP on one of the hardest days of my life. I realised I had 2 choices — I can let what’s been done to me destroy me, or I can get up and fight like hell for the life I deserve.

“Sometimes the best form of resilience and the most powerful revenge is simply refusing to be diminished and choosing to live harder anyway.”

HINA — “South Pacific Sun”

HINA’s highly anticipated debut album already sounds like it’s worth the wait.

Before Descending Dreams arrives on July 31st, the Tāmaki Makaurau singer-songwriter shares “South Pacific Sun”, the second taste of her forthcoming record.

The opening ocean sounds were recorded at my local beach, where I’ve been going since I was a child,” HINA says of the meditative cut. “To me, the music has a quintessentially South Pacific flavour.

“But this song isn’t about the ocean, not really. It’s me asking for balance, calm, safety, and permission to exist. It’s about emotional homelessness, living inside someone else’s world. This song is hope entwined with early self-abandonment, still believing peace is possible but already disappearing to find  it.”