Marlon Williams Returns With First New Music Since 2015

After touring relentlessly around the world following the release of his acclaimed debut album, Marlon Williams has made his return with his first new music since 2015. 

The New Zealand songwriter has today dropped new track, Vampire Again, and its accompanying music video (which he also directed). 

"The germination of this song began in LA last year," Williams tells of the inspiration behind the song.

"It was indeed Halloween again, and I was bored, having spent a week locked away in an Airbnb by the airport trying in vain to write a song. Any song. Nothing came. So Halloween comes around and I figure, 'Hey, I'm gonna go out tonight. Alone. Comfortably alone. Comfortably alone to see the LA Opera performing a new score to accompany my fave scary flick Nosferatu at the Ace Hotel. I'm gonna dress as the spindly creep himself. What's more, I'm gonna get super blazed before I go. And be comfortably alone.'

"So, off I go, having spent far too much on a last minute outfit, and step out of the Uber and onto the red carpet with a nauseating air of self-confidence. 'This is my night. I am strong. I am human and it is my right to express myself how I see fit.' 

"Turns out I was running late, and when I finally enter the theatre everyone was already seated and the overture had begun. What's more, no one else was dressed up. Well they were, but in tuxedos and lovely dresses. And there was nowhere for stoned ole spindleboots to sit. So, I hunched and crawled my way down the aisle and sat on the floor like it was the most reasonable thing to do at an opera. 

"I made it through the whole film and then calmly turned tail, satisfied that I'd had a good time and sure that I'd heard whispers of 'bad-ass' as I left the building. I'd like to believe that this was, at least in part, the catalyst for a whole new period in my life and my art. But that's bullshit."

Check out the video below.

To celebrate the song's release, Williams will perform three shows in Australia; his first headline gigs in nearly two years. 

After supporting City & Colour throughout the US for the rest of the month, Williams will head Down Under in November for gigs in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as a set at Mullumbimby Music Festival.

For a look at all venues and dates, click on theGuide.