M Field

"...his latest excursion suggests that Field has brilliant corners yet to turn"
Pitchfork

"Breezy alt-pop that sits in its own lane"
Clash  

“...observes a world blooming around him with discombobulated awe”
The Fader (no. 22 best tracks of the year 2021)

"...warm, lilting rhythms and bright melodies"
Crack Magazine

“Pure sonic beauty”
The Sunday Times  

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It came as no surprise that M Field’s debut solo EP, which arrived in September last year, received support at the highest level. Radio 1, 6 Music, NPR, DIY, Clash, The Line of Best Fit, Crack Magazine, Times, Sunday Times, The Independent all got behind it, his track "Andrew" was rated no.22 in Fader's best songs of the 2021 and Pitchfork suggested that "the brief excursion suggests that Field has brilliant corners yet to turn".
 
Matthew Field was already one of the most interesting and unique voices in modern music. As the lead of Cape Town band Beatenberg, he previously wrote and featured in South Africa’s biggest ever airplay hit (Pluto). He had record breaking chart success with his band Beatenberg, winning seven South Africa Music Awards for their debut album and multiple number one tracks.
 
Today as a resident of London, he shares the first bit of music since M Field EP in the form of a song called "Hyenas" which he worked on with his Beatenberg band mate Ross Dorkin.
 
“One night I watched a documentary that featured a kind of class or guild who train hyenas and baboons in Nigeria – ‘Hyena men’ they are called” explains Field.
 
“Some of these men were quite famously photographed by SA photographer Pieter Hugo and the images subsequently proliferated and were used in various contexts – this I was aware of but not thinking about at the time. I hadn’t known anything real about them before (and perhaps still don’t) but I found it moving, or something. The main point though is that the (English I think) narration of the production did a familiar sensationalising and exoticising thing re: ‘Africa’ which irritated me and I felt this feeling of wanting to rebuke everything and everyone high and mighty and self certain. But in a vague and unclear way. I don't often think about hyenas and before doing this song I don't think I could draw one (and perhaps still can't), but I felt like the word and its slightly ominous ambience suited my scornful or defiant energy that night. I immediately went into my studio and made something. The initial lyric I mumbled was the rather silly ‘I’m taming my hyenas’. The music is not overtly aggressive, and (as usual I guess!) there is a lot of sweetness in it, but there is a sort of bite to it rhythmically that I think makes sense with the sentiment. I am writing 'but' a lot – why? Anyway, like many of my ideas, it sat around for a good while before being brought out into the light, revised and finished. As is evident in the lyrics, other ideas and feelings came into it – there is a relationship in there too – and I wouldn’t really want or be able to say what it is ‘about’ really, but (again) I think hyenas still work as the grounding image or idea, though perhaps the barn owl has become more of main character in my mind. I worked on the production with Ross from my band Beatenberg – it’s the first thing we’ve done together creatively for ages; we properly turned a demo into a song together and that was a really good feeling.”
 
Field is part of a group of friends and collaborators from Cape Town who are starting to find a Global audience with their art under the guidance of indie label Leafy Outlook, including the newly launched Sparklet.
 
Having performed his EP launch at Moth Club, Field also announces his next London headline for 23rd May at London’s Omeara. 
 
 
CREDITS
Written by Matthew Field
Produced by Ross Dorkin
Mixed by Sam Petts-Davies
Mastered by Joe Laporta