[NZ] Byllie-jean Returns With 'Hinekoukou' Music Video - OUT NOW

7 March 2025

The first Byllie-jean single to emerge since the release of the artist’s debut EP Filter, ‘Hinekoukou’ was written at the 2023 Reo Māori Songhubs in Pōneke from a wānanga with mātanga reo (language expert) Te Haumihiata Mason. Byllie-jean already knew what she wanted to write about after regular visits from a ruru (morepork) when embarking on her reo Māori journey. “Hinekoukou was on my mind and as we spoke I realised that, despite the world’s obsession with image and our penchant for the artificial, she lives in the dark and sees everything.”

The waiata and video are an ode to Hinekoukou and the world she inhabits, to the non-human communities that have and continue to be decimated by humans: “I love de-centering humans, including myself as the artist; we are so obsessed with ourselves.”

The acoustic version of the music was written by Wellington artist and close friend Aja: “I asked her to play some of her favourite chords on the guitar and I wrote the vocal melody to that.” Later, in the studio producer Chris Wethey and Byllie-jean worked together on what became a theatrical sound journey that features dramatic backing vocals from Tame Tuari from the Tuari Brothers and solo vocalist Allana Goldsmith, with further reo Māori support from author Hona Black.

The accompanying video was co-directed by Juanita Hepi and animated by a digital collective led by animator Moretekorohunga Lloyd, comprising of Illustrator/Animator/Concept artist Christian Morgan Joseph and Concept Artist/Illustrator/Storyboarder Noah Foreman. The video’s style is simple, leaning into the foreboding edge of vintage noir that both Byllie-jean and Juanita Hepi are drawn to in their visual collaborations.

Byllie-jean (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Ngāti Pahauwera) is a multi-disciplinary storyteller who writes and performs in te reo Māori and English, her sound is described as Swamptrap, Fairyhop, Soulfolk and Indiehorror.

The artist has co-directed theatre works such as I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden and Wāhine Toa. She is a published poet, researcher and academic. As an indigenous island dweller and a kuia/grandmother of three, Byllie-jean is brimming with content, winning the 2022 Te Maioha Silver Scroll Award for her single ‘Te Iho’ with AJA and Chris Wethey. Her EP Filter was released in 2024 including two accompanying videos for 'Desperate Fools' (2023) and ‘Running Amuck’ (2023). Filter was chosen as one of The Sampler’s favourite NZ albums of the year for 2024 by Tony Stamp.

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