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Aotearoa Music Award-winning and Taite Award-winning artist Vera Ellen releases her new album Heaven Knows What Time. on May 1 via Flying Nun Records. Alongside the album release, Vera Ellen returns to Aotearoa in July for a six-date national tour in celebration of Heaven Knows What Time. The title Heaven Knows What Time. arrived while Vera was lying on the top bunk of a house truck in Buenos Aires, nearly two years after writing the record and almost a year after completing the mix. After multiple working titles, it surfaced with clarity and immediacy - less a decision than a moment of recognition. It reflects the album’s central tension: frustration and surrender to forces outside of control. As Vera describes it, creativity cannot be demanded - it can be nurtured, but ultimately arrives in its own time, “like a baby”.
The album was written during a two-week songwriting residency in Greytown, awarded through the NZ Pacific Studio Artist Residency Programme. The residency provided space and solitude away from touring and performance, culminating in a performance at Studio 73 for fellow residents and members of the local community.
In her residency application, Vera 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.” While that intention is present, Heaven Knows What Time. resists neat resolution, moving through themes of love, joy, self-assurance, humour, moodiness, and heartbreak - positioning Vera as an observer of both inner and outer worlds.
Alongside extensive touring in Aotearoa — including the 2025 Laneway Festival — Vera has performed internationally with her band, including a 14-date tour of China, a sold-out run in Australia supporting Crowded House, appearances at New Colossus Festival and SXSW (Austin and Sydney), and a full UK/EU support tour with Yumi Zouma. She is set to support Aldous Harding on her full UK/EU tour and perform at The Great Escape in Brighton. The Guardian described her performance as: “Arising New Zealand empress Vera Ellen and band were a revelation, a shimmering reminder that pop’n’roll can still nudge one’s soul.”
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