The blog’s submissions inbox is incredibly busy at the moment and proving a little tricky to keep on top of, but it’s all made worthwhile (ish) when I stumble across a gem which I know will become a firm favourite. I’ve really fallen for Andrew from M Field… it arrived last week alongside news of his self-titled debut EP, due 2nd September. On first listen, I felt a bit of an early Vampire Weekend vibe to the track (a very good thing!) but you might recognise the vocals a little more precisely as Matthew is the frontman of South Africa’s indie exports Beatenberg. This one’s a little slice of summer-y joy. As a collection of tracks, the EP came together a little sporadically, with some written specifically for it and others reworked from old demos. Matthew shares that “there wasn’t anything obvious or conceptual tying them together, but I trusted that my overall intention would bind them somehow. And of course, as time goes on and work is done things begin to cohere in unexpected ways. Working with Bullion also led to more sonic unity.”
On the new track: “Like in dreams, in songs everyone is you. But also nothing I say outside of my songs is actually true. The key of Andrew is to D major as 95bpm is to 98bpm – I slowed it down a little bit. The song started with the chorus and it took me a while to find the right verse. I really like the end bit with all the orchestral instruments and hope to do more stuff like that.”