Mali Mali Shares New Single & Video 'Croatia'

A rainy day outside in Tāmaki Makaurau and a mystical new piano ballad from Mali Mali aka Ben Tolich keeping us toasty on a Tuesday. A personal and poetical reflection on feeling adrift while cycling and sailing through Croatia, Mali Mali's first single in three years is accompanied by an elegantly rippling single-shot video. Mali Mali's next adventure is a nationwide tour supporting fellow Aotearoa songwriter Jess Bailey aka Fables — whose debut album Change Is A Slow Moving Beast launches this Friday. Tolich opened up about how 'Croatia' came to be...

"In 2023 my wife and I did a cycle cruise in Croatia. We stayed on a small ship of about twenty people and sailed to the different islands and cycled all over them. I had mentioned to the guides that my grandfather was from the town of Vrgorac and when we were sailing down the coast they pointed to the mountains (where the town sat just beyond) and said that's where your grandfather is from. I sat and watched them go by as I listened to the piano demo, and then after arriving back home to New Zealand, the lyrics came.

I was wrestling with what felt like a second big depression in my life, and travel can be a dissociating experience when your head isn't in the best place. This song is wrestling with that dissociation and trying to use my familial history to ground myself amidst some profoundly beautiful moments... while riding a bicycle."

Fables Album Release Tour
with Mali Mali

Saturday 18th April - Artworks Theatre, Waiheke
Sunday 19th April - House Concert, Hamilton
Thursday 23rd April - Pearl Diver, Dunedin*
Friday 24th April - Sherwood, Queenstown*
Sunday 26th April - Wunderbar, Lyttelton*

*Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

'Croatia' is out today on major streaming platforms.