The World of M. Field
The music of Matthew Field, whether within his band Beatenberg or his solo-project M.Field, conjures an easy sense of warmth and joy. Having recently imported himself from Cape Town to sunny London town, it’s not difficult to see why Matt’s music stands out. It’s easy on the ears, but can it really be so easy to make? We sat down with the man himself to see for ourselves. In the quiet environs of Last Bus’ reflective window, Matt discusses his process, influences and inspirations. He pulls back the curtain on a musical mind, anxious not to appear too humble, willing to think deeply on the particulars of his creativity and resistant to false simplification. M. Field’s music, like his interview here, is a world brimming with ideas, craft and consideration. His new single 'Another Moon' has just come out, while Beatenberg’s 3rd full-length, ‘The Great Fire of Beatenberg’, is out April 5th. 
Photo credit: Jarred Figgins
Matt, first of all a massive thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I’ve been a fan of yours since the first time I heard The Hanging Gardens and your music never fails to cheer me up.
Thank you for taking the time to ask the questions!
Since you do so much for my mood, it’s only fair if I begin by asking: how are you?
I am good thanks. I’m currently wearing a balaclava indoors. I got up at 1pm today because I was working on songs until 6am, so I am quite happy.
I recently saw Beatenberg perform at Village Underground. Unsurprisingly for British Summertime it was raining, but most of your music makes me think of swimming through the beating sun. How do you think place and atmosphere influence your process?
In the band we’ve thought a fair bit about this kind of thing. Specifically, the idea that we from sunny Cape Town bring a warm and joyful vibe to a colder and rainier UK/Germany/Netherlands (the places in Europe we play most often). Although I instinctively regard this kind of thinking as a little superficial, and the connection between ‘sun’ and ‘upbeat’ is by no means inevitable (in fact, the sun beats DOWN on us), and I think a lot of what people notice in our sound has more to do with the musical history and traditions of South/Southern Africa than it does the immediate effect of the the climate on any of us individually, I think it must be true that the natural beauty available to me throughout my young life has shaped what I look for and ‘what I have to say’ in song.
I was also lucky enough to see you perform solo at Last Bus’ event at the Troubadour - and drunkenly harass you afterwards. Aside from the obvious personnel differences, where do you see the difference between Beatenberg and M.Field lying? When you write a song, how do you know who it belongs to?
Thank you for being there – I enjoyed that show. I think the simplest answer is just that M Field gives me a kind of freedom I need now.
On top of Robin and Ross in Beatenberg, you’ve also collaborated with artists like Msaki, DJ Clocks and even Mumford and Sons. What have you learned from the other musicians you’ve played and toured with?
I’m really not good at talking about this kind of thing – I feel no sooner do I think of a few words in order than some kind of falseness creeps in. I have learned things from all the people you mention here, and I deeply appreciate having made these connections, but if we are talking musically, it’s hard for me to pinpoint specific things, since I take ideas in such little and constant ways throughout my life.
The moment I attempted to learn ‘Beauty Like a Tightened Bow’ on guitar was the moment I realised how impressive your guitar work is. Where did you get so good - who taught you, who influenced you?
Thanks, that’s very kind. I learned some basic chords from my dad, then I did classical guitar at school, and later got into seriously jazz and studied that at university. There was a time I practised quite a lot, hoping to become a great jazz guitarist and abandon ’pop’! And from a young age the guitar work in South African music like mbaqanga and maskandi, and various derivations/things influenced by those styles, resonated with me very strongly. It seems that the pure and clear feeling – transcending ‘happy and sad’ – I found in Mozart, for example, – which I would hear a lot in the house when very young – was found in this guitar music too – the fundamental harmonic momentum is often very similar. I continued to play the occasional bit of Bach on the guitar, and I never quite got the hang of using a plectrum. So when I write my own songs a mixture of all this stuff I suppose could be observed in the way I play the guitar...
Having said that, it would be unfair to simply characterise you as a guitarist. I’ve really enjoyed how your more recent music incorporates electronics - how do you think techniques like autotune and glitch give you access to new moods which traditional instruments perhaps can't?
I must confess that I am ambivalent about all the things that computers allow me to do – maybe just because I’ve never approached that realm with the same sense of discipline as I once did the guitar, for example. But in any case, it’s obvious that there is so much potential it’s hard not to make use of it – the stuff I’m working on now certainly does. But more and more I feel that sounds made in what we can still sort of meaningfully call ‘the real world’, and not in a box of numbers, have a special quality that is welcome in any mix, even when they are translated into numbers themselves. Like a scan of a painting that was visible because of light from the sun is a little different to an entirely digitally created drawing. Maybe it’s the ‘documentary’ aspect of it that I like. But there is place for both of course, and one or the other, and neither.
Your songwriting often juxtaposes the grandiose and the classical with the leisurely everyday - you could even say bourgeois. Is this sort of two-ness a conscious choice? How much are you trying to satirise yourself or the personae you come up with?
You could even say bourgeois, indeed. I don’t actually like it when I lean too far into what could be called satire. But a sense of humour is essential. And the two-ness you rightly observe is even more essential to me!
When are you most creative? Do you find your songwriting is an escape, or a way to process what's going on immediately?
Good question. It’s hard to say when ‘creativity’ happens since it’s sort of simmering at all times. But over time, I think the times I actually make the most real verifiable actual work are when there is the right combination of free time and schedule or obligation. Such as yesterday – which was a culmination of weeks of sometimes quite low-level productivity but constant engagement with my work (I resisted putting ‘my work’ in quotations there, but this is the lesser version of making that pointless show of humility or whatever it is) on a daily basis, and was precipitated by an earnest plea by my manager to send him the demos I’d been promising for so long!
Photo credit: Jarred Figgins
Finally, a couple of quickfire questions:
What’s something you listen to that would surprise people?
10 hours of relaxing rainforest ambience. I suppose you will say ‘but that’s obvious’...
Who are you listening to at the moment?
I was listening to Rameau when I started answering these questions.
Last Bus or Night Tube?
Oh, certainly the bus. There’s a song on the new Beatenberg album with two of those words in the title.
Cricket or Rugby?
A difficult time to pose this question considering South Africa’s recent achievement. To tell the truth, I don’t follow either sport much at the moment (they are interesting to me in a more removed way) – but the answer is probably cricket – I used to love playing as a boy.
Imagist or Idiot?
Imagist – I try not lambast myself as much these days.
When’s the last time you felt at peace?
I won a tennis match two days ago and felt pretty chuffed on my way home. Lol.
What do you listen to on the Last Bus home?
I don’t have any earphones/airpods so I don’t listen to music out and about at the moment, which is a bit annoying, but there you go.
Matt, thank you for answering my questions so well and for all the art you’ve made and will make. The world is a brighter place with you in it.
Thank you very much too! Hope to see you at another show some time.