Anthonie Tonnon

Early life and Tono and the Finance Company (2002–2013)

Tonnon was born in Tauranga in 1986 and grew up in Dunedin, living in the suburbs of Corstorphine, Mornington, Fairfield and Chain Hills, before studying music and history at the University of Otago.^[2]

While a student in Dunedin in the mid-to-late 2000s, Tonnon began performing solo and later with a backing band under the name Tono and the Finance Company.^[6] The group placed in the University of Otago Students' Association's Battle of the Bands before touring nationally, and released its debut EP, Love & Economics, on Jody Lloyd's She'll Be Right Records; Tonnon described the group's sound at the time as "like indie pop in a jazz hall".^[7] The band's early line-up included drummer Andy Straight, bassist Chris Miller and keyboardist Matt Bodman, alongside a rotating cast of Dunedin musicians over the following years.^[7][8]

Tono and the Finance Company went on to release a second EP, Fragile Thing, in 2010, by which point Tonnon had relocated to Auckland, and a full-length album, Up Here for Dancing, in 2012.^[3][6] Up Here for Dancing's songwriting turned toward observational portraits of Auckland urban life; the anti-gentrification track "Marion Bates Realty" attracted the attention of Beirut, who invited Tonnon's band to support them on their 2012 New Zealand tour.^[3] Following that album and tour, Tonnon retired the Tono and the Finance Company name and began performing and recording under his own name, continuing to work with band member and producer Jonathan Pearce.^[3][6]

Solo career and Successor (2013–2016)

After retiring the Tono and the Finance Company name in 2013, Tonnon began touring the United States and Australia under his own name, drawing on stagecraft influences from comedy and theatre as well as songwriters such as Jonathan Richman and Jens Lekman.^[3] Working again with Jonathan Pearce as co-producer, Tonnon recorded his second full-length album (and first under his own name), Successor, drawing on the sound of David Bowie's Berlin period, Kraftwerk, and Lou Reed's early solo work.^[3] The album was released on 6 March 2015 through Misra Records and Wild Kindness Records, reaching number 7 on the NZ Artist Albums Chart.^[3] Its single "Water Underground", concerning irrigation politics on the Canterbury Plains, was a finalist for the APRA Silver Scroll in 2015 and the album itself was a finalist for the 2016 Taite Music Prize.^[9][4]

A Synthesized Universe, Rail Land and expanding live shows (2017–2020)

Following Successor, Tonnon toured extensively, supporting Nadia Reid in Europe, The Veils in the United States, and The Chills, The Phoenix Foundation and Don McGlashan in New Zealand.^[10] During this period he began experimenting with drum machines, sampling and other electronic elements as a way of expanding his live show, incorporating the Wellington-designed Synthstrom Deluge synthesiser to adapt his performances for non-traditional venues including art galleries, museums, and New Zealand Fashion Week.^[11] This experimentation led to A Synthesized Universe, an immersive show developed in 2018 for the planetarium at the Otago Museum in Dunedin, and to Rail Land, a touring show combining live music with narrated history of New Zealand's railways, addressing themes of car dependence.^[12][13] A related single and EP, Two Free Hands, spent several weeks atop New Zealand's alternative radio chart at the end of 2017.^[14]

Leave Love Out of This (2021–2022)

Tonnon wrote the bulk of his third album, Leave Love Out of This, during this extended touring period, workshopping songs with Jonathan Pearce between tours and recording between 2017 and 2020.^[10] The album moved further from the traditional rhythm sections of Successor toward electronic textures that blur organic and synthesised sound, and included "Peacetime Orders", whose outro had earlier formed the theme for RNZ's podcast The Service.^[10][15]

Released on 16 July 2021 through Slow Time Records (UK/EU/NZ) and Misra Records (North America), the first Slow Time release by an artist other than label founder Nadia Reid, Leave Love Out of This became Tonnon's first top-10 album in New Zealand, reaching number 9 on the NZ Top 40 Albums Chart and number 2 on the NZ Artist Albums Chart in its opening week.^[15] The album received critical praise from outlets including The Listener, RNZ's The Sampler, the Sunday Star-Times, Paste, and Melbourne's Triple R, and was placed at number 11 on RNZ's list of the top 20 New Zealand albums of 2021.^[15][16] Its title track earned Tonnon and Pearce a place in the top 5 of the 2021 APRA Silver Scroll Award, his second time placing in the award's top 5, and Tonnon was also nominated for Te Kaipuoro Manohi Toa / Best Alternative Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards.^[15] Leave Love Out of This went on to win the 2022 Taite Music Prize, with Tonnon telling the audience the album was "the pinnacle of what I've aimed for as a musician. It's the novel to us musicians."^[5] In 2025, Rolling Stone Australia included the album in its list of the 80 best New Zealand albums of the 2020s so far.^[17]

Durie Hill Elevator and other activities

In 2021, Tonnon took on the contract to operate the Durie Hill Elevator, New Zealand's oldest public underground lift, in Whanganui.^[18] A minor planet, 44527 Tonnon, was named after him that year in recognition of A Synthesized Universe.^[19]

Cinematographer and recent activity (2026)

In July 2026, Tonnon announced his first new music in over three years, the single "Executive Assistant", alongside an international tour for a new immersive live show, Cinematographer, again developed with Jonathan Pearce.^[20] Tonnon described the show as combining "live electronic music, cinematic storytelling, and visual design into an immersive performance", drawing on influences including French avant-garde cinema, 1960s urban politics, and turn-of-the-millennium dance culture, alongside his adopted home city of Whanganui.^[20] The tour included dates in Auckland, Whanganui (as part of the Festival of Design Aotearoa), Christchurch, Wellington, Melbourne and London in October and November 2026.^[20]

Studio albums

EPs

Singles