Inspired #307 - Me And The Moon
South East folk duo Me And The Moon are back with their first release in three years! New single ‘Strangers’ is a mix of dream-pop guitars with warm alt-folk tones. They took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind their music.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
There are so many it's hard to pick three, but right now I would say - The Lumineers, I think they're lyrics and melodies are always amazing and they adapt across albums. We've seen them live a few times and its always such a huge sound and very cathartic sing along choruses. We love Angus and Julia Stone, their voices work so well together and I love the mix they have of super chill acoustic stuff and more pop songs, it's a cool range and we just love a bit of Aussie pop - it's so different to British bands. Finally, would be Bombay Bicycle Club, they've been one of those bands we've both looked up too since we started writing music before we even met, and their textures and layers and harmonies have definitely influenced some of our songs.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
We're both big Wes Anderson nerds and always chuck on anything by him for a bit of inspiration. There's always such a sense of adventure and visually they're so amazing to watch, a go to is The Grand Budapest Hotel, I couldn't even imagine how many times we've watched it.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
It's hard to pinpoint one city, I think new places in general are inspiring. A change of scenery is good, and when you've spent too much time somewhere and feel like there's nothing new to discover there anymore, the inspiration sort of dries up. Its good to keep going to different places. We went to New York last year just before the pandemic hit, and then spent months at home writing.. so that was a cool last place to have gone to give us some fresh ideas.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
This may feel like a random answer but we both love Mark Ronson. He's such an incredible songwriter and musician and his sense of style is amazing. He collaborates with artists in all different genres, and he'll write a country song with one person, and a funk song with another. And they'll both be amazing and sound nothing alike, except his style shines through it. And you can put them together on an album and it works because there is his style embedded into all these genres. I think it's a really exciting and amazing thing to be able to do. And it's cool because he's not afraid to put his own stamp on everything.
What were your inspirations when writing your new track?
We always try and write about situations that have happened to us or someone we care about. As is the case for lots of people there's been so much change over the last few years. Strangers is about when someone comes back into your life after a long time but its almost too little too late.
How would you like to inspire people?
It sounds cliche but justinspiring people to feel comfortable being themselves. We didn't release any new music for so long because we felt like we weren't sure who we were trying to be. It's easy to compare to others and think maybe we're doing it wrong, should it be poppier, should it be folkier, should it be rockier. We were worried we didn't fit in to a certain genre or place. But the time away has given us the space to realise just to do our own thing, and now we've written some new songs we're really proud of. So yeh, I guess just it's important to focus on you.