Luminescent Confessions in M Field’s Sunny “Another Moon”

London-based singer/songwriter M Field’s single “Another Moon” puts words to that charged moment of resurfacing feelings for someone from your past, resistant yet inexplicably drawn.

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Stream: “Another Moon” – M Field

Before I can admit something, I need someone else to say it first. It’s a kind of permission. When someone else articulates a feeling I have, I know I’m not alone and feel safe enough to venture into the fields of my own confession. We all need conduits for confession – some use a psalter, some use memes, and some (like me) use song lyrics.

In his breezy new single, “Another Moon,” M Field puts words to an experience I never knew needed expressed: That charged moment when you become suddenly aware of resurfacing feelings for someone from your past, resistant yet inexplicably drawn.

Even though I
Know it won’t work
Something turns in
Me like clockwork

Romantic confusion has never been so sonically and rhythmically pleasant, with sunny vocals, and an opening acoustic guitar sequence that sounds to me like a tree full of birds layering their songs over each other. Capetonian virtuoso, Matthew Field is an insistently creative beatmaker – it seems rare to find him doing a simple ¾ or 4/4 bar. With 7 beats per bar the song is enlivened with a palpable sense of anticipation and the persistence of these feelings.

In the second verse he effortlessly sings,

Yes I want to
Be desired
Yes I’m lonely
And inspired

Yes I’m often
Drunk on Thursday
Errant nights like
Don Quixote

Thank you, Matthew, for saying it first.

And for saying it so light-heartedly. The dexterous twirling guitar, lively African-infused percussion, and groovy bursts of computerised organ all give the song a playful aura, evoking the lightness that comes when we admit our faults as well as our wants, without taking ourselves too seriously. So freeing.

In classic M Field fashion, the lyrics swing between nonchalant confessions of longing, abstract imagery, and literary references.

I might be a conspiracy theorist here, overly eager to draw connections, but I can’t ignore the windmill on the cover art – it feels like a nod to the scene in in Don Quixote when protagonist (Don Quixote) tries to battle against a field of windmills, mistakenly thinking that they are giants. Some say this scene is symbolic of the ways our imaginations can overrule reality, making fools of us. Could this be M Field’s subtle irony playing out? Is he undercutting the irresistible temptation of rekindling old flames, suggesting that his image of the moon turning blue, “calling me, and calling you,” is just an imaginary scene playing out in his head? Maybe. It brings to mind another song written by Field – “Don’t Call Her Over To You,” for his indie pop band, Beatenberg.

Whether “Another Moon” is an ode to the rebirth of romance, or a satire about the perils of over-romanticisation, it is the perfect song to listen to a hundred times over just trying to figure it out.

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