Anthonie Tonnon

Born in Tauranga in 1989 and raised in Dunedin, Anthonie Tonnon develops in New Zealand a writing that sits between indie rock, alternative pop and folk, with a marked taste for synthetic arrangements and narratives anchored in reality. Trained at the University of Otago in music and history, Tonnon began to bring his songs to the New Zealand indie scene in the early 2010s, giving significant space to social, urban and political subjects. His first full-length album, Successor, appeared in 2015, followed by Leave Love Out of This in 2021, in a more electronic and analytical vein, while not breaking with a songwriter’s craft. Several tracks draw directly on contemporary or historical events, from the irrigation of the Canterbury plains to Auckland’s gentrification, up to the Canberra air disaster. Parallel to his performances, Tonnon also designs cross-disciplinary projects, such as Synthesized Universe for the Otago Museum’s planetarium in 2018, or Rail Land, a show about car dependence and public transport. Based in Whanganui, Tonnon is also tied to local life through his work as operator of the Durie Hill Elevator, the city’s historic funicular.