We last featured Tom Minor for taking us on a 180 degree trip from disillusionment to optimism with his intricate and zeitgeist album, Ten New Toe-Tappers for Shoplifting & Self-Mutilation, so when we heard that Tom was back with What a Little Moonlight Could Do, we couldn’t wait to listen and share our experience.
What a Little Moonlight Could Do opens with the lyrics, “You know it’s not even funny, what a little moonlight can do, I know you won’t believe this, honey, but as I was a-passing thru…”, as Tom is accompanied by a bold yet playful soundscape featuring guitars, organ and textured percussion.
In essence, the song is about how something as small as moonlight can make a person lose their way – literally and emotionally. Tom is on his way home to someone he loves, but he slips, gets confused, and loses track. The repeated lines about being down on your luck and on your knees show us on a philosophical level that life has been hard, and that Tom feels judged whilst enduring his struggles. Overall, it has a playful but slightly sad feeling. It shows us how love, bad luck, and a little moonlight can turn an ordinary night into a total mess.
The track has a cinematic allure and would be perfect for a movie like Sliding Doors, Trainspotting, Withnail & I or The Full Monty, or a TV show like The Day of the Jackal, or MobLand, fusing humour, melancholia and beautiful chaos. There is something super British about Tom’s storytelling here too. He takes an everyday situation and turns it into an existential odyssey.
Instrumentally, the track has an irresistible vintage vibe – aligned with Tom’s wider discography. That is what makes What a Little Moonlight Could Do feel so quintessentially Tom Minor. His self-described ‘existential indie’ has an uncanny ability to take an uncomfortable subject matter and wrap it inside something catchy and theatrical. There is catharsis here too, and Tom shows us that even when the spirit is bruised, we can just existentially laugh about it.
Produced with Teaboy Palmer and featuring Johnny Dalston on guitar, the track feels cohesive, and needless to say, we are absolutely enchanted. We have added What a Little Moonlight Could Do to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS playlist, whilst we continue to stream Tom’s exquisite, growing discography.