Girl, In A Savage World

Em-Haley Walker examines the lasting tragedy of colonization on her debut album as Theia. Following her folkier guise TE KAAHU, on which she sang te reo Māori, the New Zealand-born artist again draws upon her Māori culture for a powerful collection of nuanced songwriting. These tunes may play on the surface like short, sparse lullabies proceeding with tiptoed sweetness, but Walker’s forthright lyrics are hiding in plain sight. On the light, chiming waltz “Patupaiarehe,” she describes the titular mythological forest creatures of New Zealand fighting back against “the man who stole our land.” She recounts both her deceased great-grandmother and “a white man’s wrath” on the a cappella album closer “I Picked a Flower from the Grave,” and enlists American folk singer Jolie Holland for a whispery duet on the lamenting “My Sister’s Hands in Mine.” Working with co-producer Abraham Kunin, the now LA-based Walker even adopts the beats, bass, and swagger of hip-hop for “Hoki Whenua Mai (Return the Land),” a fierce reckoning with colonial violence and ecological devastation. Other songs veer closer to theatrical art pop (see “BALDH3AD!”), as Walker contrasts inviting music with lyrics about calculated murder and other crimes in the name of cultural erasure.