If “It’s Easy Then” can teach us something, it’s that The Big Moon are back, they’ve changed, and they want you to know that no matter the struggle, you’ll get through it – preferably with your best friends by your side.
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Stream: “It’s Easy Then” – The Big Moon
If you thought you knew The Big Moon, think again. The London-based band who rose to prominence in 2017 with their slick guitars, equal parts cheeky and infatuated lyrics, and formidable energy – and earned a Mercury Prize nomination for their debut album Love in the 4th Dimension – are ready to show us a new side of themselves.
“It’s Easy Then”, the first taster of their follow-up album, is here, and by the looks of it, promises that change, experimentation, and deep reflection lie ahead for the band. From the first few seconds of the single you notice a shift in energy, with the band’s signature sizzling guitar parts being swapped for moody synthesisers and piano and their witty, explosive lyrics giving way to mature reflection.
I’m so bored of being
Capable
I need somewhere to be
Vulnerable
I take everything straight
To the heart (to the, to the heart)
I just wanna rewind
To the start
Now I walk into to a room and forget why
Every new thought shoves the others aside
I’m just waiting for the piano to fall
Braced for an opening trapdoor
To swallow me up
The single, which frontwoman and songwriter Juliette Jackson says “is really about finding strength in strange times”, expands the universe in which The Big Moon reside, giving them the confidence and ability to tackle the world’s Big Issues after a successful and delightful debut album that dissected and celebrated the intricacies of falling and being in love.
Jackson expands: “We work too much, we think too much, we know too much so we all worry too much. Our anxieties are stoked every day. Music has this incredible way of helping us see with a new perspective, and ties up our feelings in a way that language by itself never could. I wanted to write a song that made me feel better. Something that captured the frustrations, but also the hope and joy all at the same time.”
Watch: “It’s Easy Then (Visualiser)” – The Big Moon
Yeah, it’s easy then
You make it hard
You make it hard
If earlier in the song they were used as Greek chorus-like backing vocals, on the chorus fellow band members Celia Archer, Soph Nathan, and Fern Ford join forces – and voices – with Jackson in a simple moment that quickly becomes a symbol of strength and support. After the self-critical verses, the four women come together and become a force, they’re better and stronger together, and are ready to help each other. There’s such a special energy to the chorus that it almost feels like it was captured at a live performance with way more than four people singing the words. By the time the chorus comes around a second time, singing along is almost inevitable.
All the money you make (it’s easy then)
You try and save (you make it hard)
One weekend in the sun (you make it hard)
A holiday
But it feels like your work
Is never done (never, never done)
Yeah it feels like your work
Has just begun
While the first verse addressed Jackson’s feelings and personal frustrations, the second verse steers towards mundane adult responsibilities, like paying the bills, exhaustion, and trying to enjoy a simple holiday. It tackles the vicious and anxious cycle that the working youth feels trapped in, where millennials and younger generations are struggling to find work that’s both financially viable and creatively fulfilling and where technology and the internet make it so that, even if you’re away from the office, work is always at your fingertips.
I just keep on breathing in
And breathing out
Swear my heart beats quicker than
It used to be
I just keep on breathing in
And breathing out
Swear the air is thicker than
It used to be
“It’s Easy Then” reaches its climax on the bridge, where the song grows sonically and in sentiment, as Jackson describes the physical manifestations of all her anxieties. Breathing in and out is a technique as old as time, recommended by grandmothers and teachers and doctors alike, but sometimes life is so overwhelming that focusing on the one action that keeps us alive seems like an impossible task.
As the bridge ends and a short instrumental section introduces horns to the song, it feels like breathing comes easier than it did before after the catharsis of seeing all your worries and insecurities being dealt with and conquered so bluntly and strongly in song. If The Big Moon’s new single can teach us something, it’s that they’re back, they’ve changed, and they want you to know that no matter the struggle, you’ll get through it – preferably with your best friends by your side.
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