Marlon Williams: My Boy
My Boy, the third solo record from New Zealand singer/
songwriter Marlon Williams, announces an artist emerging anew. Gone is the
solemn, country-indebted crooner with the velvet voice – in his place comes a
playful, shapeshifting creature.
Following the release of his second album, 2018’s Make Way For
Love, Williams’ toured the world, playing major festivals and collaborating with
Lorde, Yo-Yo Ma and Florence Welch. He also forged a fledgling acting career
with roles in films The True History of the Kelly Gang and Netflix series Sweet
Tooth, as well as a cameo in Oscar winning film A Star Is Born. My Boy parlays
this flush of worldly experience into a vivid record as spirited and kinetic as
the unfolding life of it’s performer. “I’ve always explored different character
elements in my music,” says Williams. “And the more I get into acting, the more
tricks I’m learning about representation and presentation. To get braver and
bolder with exploring shifting contexts and new ways of doing things.”
As the pandemic paused global travel, Williams found himself at
home in New Zealand, reconnecting with family and friends. Soon new demos
and lyrical themes emerged: of self-identity and escapism; tribalism and a
gnarled family tree; and ruminations on the role of masculinity and mateship.
Co-produced with Tom Healy and recorded at Roundhead Studios
in New Zealand, My Boy finds Williams’ leading a new band through a set of
genre-hopping tunes: from the cheery sway of ‘My Boy’ and chugging ’80s noir
sheen of ‘Thinking Of Nina’, to the charging synth of ‘River Rival’, and the sultry
pop jam ‘Don’t Go Back.’ All this sonic and emotional whiplash is intentional,
and ultimately My Boy sees Williams having f
