Known by his stage name, And$um, Dunlay, 28, is an electronic hip-hop artist from Lyttelton.
His sophomore album, Late Night Down Brougham, was featured in Rolling Stone Australia’s best new New Zealand music in 2023.
His first book is a collection of short stories and poetry dedicated to Louis Yeki, 25, aka Lui Mill, who died suddenly in December. Yeki’s death is subject to a coroner’s inquest.
“It was really tough, with the nature of his passing there was a lot of questions, no one really knew what was going on the first couple of days,” said Dunlay.
“The main part is just shock and it’s the months following where you start to feel what you’re really feeling.
“It’s just special to still be able to talk to him and keep his memory, he was an amazing musician and one of the best rappers in the city.”
The short story and poetry writing process acted as an outlet for Dunlay’s grief over his friend’s death.
“It’s not always easy to directly talk about, so it was really nice to be able to get some of these feelings down and write them out.
“For me it’s therapy to be able to get it all out,” he said.
Dunlay has been making music for 10 years, but felt a shift in inspiration from writing songs to writing stories.
The Caterpillar, the first story in the self-published collection, which the book is named after, he wrote 18 months ago.
“It was a story I’d been thinking about writing for years,” he said.
The Caterpillar acts as a metaphor for Dunlay’s battle with chronic fatigue following Covid and how he has come out the other side transformed.
Themes of isolation, self-reflection, and the small inconveniences that shape our lives are explored.
“I draw a lot of inspiration from life’s everyday moments. I enjoy stories that are universal and ordinary, but they mean a lot more than that.
“It was a really fun process to write, I’d work sometimes for a month then I wouldn’t touch it for another three. Things in my life would change and it would reflect how I wanted to write,” he said.
Dunlay found the writing process for the book differed from songwriting in its structure.
“You’ve got a lot more room to flesh out an explore an idea.”
The official book launch was on Sunday.
“It was really nice to make it feel a bit more real and feel like it actually happened.
“You never know if these things are going to see the light of day so it was a cool feeling,” he said.
