New Music & Video Release - Vera Ellen shares new single + video 'Thaw' - 16th April 2026
Photo Credit - Nicola Sandford
Artist Name - Vera Ellen
Release Name - Thaw
Release Date - 16th April 2026
Genre - Indie, Indie Rock, Alternative
Label - Flying Nun Records
"Arising New Zealand empress Vera Ellen and band were a revelation, a shimmering reminder that pop’n’roll can still nudge one’s soul.“ - The Guardian
“One of the sharpest songwriters to emerge from Aotearoa in a long time. “ - Rolling Stone Magazine
Aotearoa Music Award and Taite Prize-winning artist Vera Ellen releases her new single ‘Thaw’, taken from her upcoming album Heaven Knows What Time, out May 1st via Flying Nun Records.
The single follows the recently released joyous anthem ‘Gayfever’ and the sophisti-pop Hemi Hemingway duet ‘When It’s Over,’ also taken from Heaven Knows What Time.
Says Vera Ellen of the new track:
“The inspiration for Thaw came when I hit writer’s block during a songwriting residency and decided a change was needed. I went to a local barber and, although he was about to close, he cut my hair and blasted Alice Cooper. We talked a lot about guitars and rock and on the walk home I got myself some whiskey. All I wanted was to write a “sick riff” - I sat down and out came Thaw.”
The track marked a shift in the writing process, shedding expectation in favour of instinct and feeling. ‘Thaw’ explores infatuation from a place of self-assurance, and features vocals from bandmate Ben Lemi.
The video for ‘Thaw’ is another special collaboration with Daniel Fletcher - sitting somewhere between a music video and a short film. It was shaped through many conversations about identity, love, dating, and generational patterns. Surreal and considered, it’s the kind of piece you can watch multiple times and discover something new with each viewing. Shot in Auckland with the help of many hands, the video was made with support from NZ On Air Music.
Three years on from her last full-length project Ideal Home Noise; which was awarded the prestigious Taite Music Prize for 2023, Vera Ellen has found herself in a whirlwind of unconventionality - learning to embrace the chaos that comes with being a self-sustained artist in today’s constantly driving culture, and finding meaning and joy in community - all themes that inform her new body of work.
“Heaven Knows What Time”, the words came to Vera Ellen as she lay on the top bunk of a house truck in Buenos Aires. Nearly two years after writing the record, almost a year after finishing the mix, and following multiple name changes, the album title arrived with clarity and force. It felt less like a decision and more like a moment of arrival - a reminder that creativity cannot be demanded. It can be nurtured, given the right conditions, but ultimately it does not adhere to industry timelines. Like a baby, it arrives when it is ready. Receiving the album’s name became a lesson in that truth.
Mixed and produced by Vera's long-time collaborator Ben Lemi, Heaven Knows What Time is both a question and an answer - an expression of frustration and a surrender to what was never within her control.
Vera wrote the album during a two-week songwriting residency in Greytown, awarded through the NZ Pacific Studio Artist Residency Programme. The residency concluded with a performance at Studio 73 for fellow residents and members of the local community who had hosted her.
The experience provided two essential elements:
The first was space and solitude. At the time, Vera was immersed in a self-sustained cycle of work, touring, and performance. Writing had become difficult to access. In Greytown, largely alone in the cottage, she found room to slow down, taking long walks, observing the landscape, and reconnecting with her thoughts, her body, and the natural world. This period allowed her to reflect, to make sense of fragments, and to write with renewed presence.
The second was accountability. With a final performance marking the end of the residency, Vera felt a responsibility to honour the opportunity by creating something tangible. It also served as a commitment to herself, a reaffirmation of her identity as a songwriter, and a test of what could emerge when time and intention were aligned. In her residency application, she wrote: “After the heaviness of Ideal Home Noise, I feel it is pressing that I now create an uplifting record that has a guiding message of hope, but from a matured perspective.”
In some ways, that intention is reflected in the finished album. Heaven Knows What Time is lighter in tone, carrying themes of love, joy, and a growing sense of self-assurance. Yet it resists any obligation to resolve or repair everything. Rather than responding to expectation or guilt, the writing moves toward introspection - embracing contradiction, humour, moodiness, and heartbreak, and positioning Vera less as a participant and more as an observer of her inner and outer worlds.
HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT TIME Tracklisting
01. spit @ the sky
02. big shot jr
03. how we say goodnight
04. gayfever
05. walking in vegas
06. hollow
07. thaw
08. when it's over (ft. Hemi Hemingway)
09. hunger is just memory
10. getting told off by mum
LISTEN TO ‘THAW’
‘Heaven Knows What Time’ — out May 1st via Flying Nun Records on vinyl, CD and on all streaming platforms.