The Making of “Möbius Man” – Future Memories

For my post on “Time Is Elastic”, I asserted that Physics is not common subject matter for a song. Well, I’d argue that Geometry is an even more obscure proposition! The Möbius strip is a surface with only one side and one edge. You can make your own Möbius strip by taking a rectangular piece of paper and gluing or taping the two ends together with a half-twist. In this way, the Möbius strip becomes a continuous loop – no beginning or end, and the perfect metaphor for a song.

After years of experimenting with different songs and struggling to find a clear direction for the album, it was the music to “Möbius Man” that really defined the album I wanted to make. Once I recorded this song, I knew how I wanted the album to sound and in turn, what I needed to do.

Once again there is a strong contrast between the dark, edgy sounding verse and sweet, melancholic chorus. I particularly like the musical tension in the verse and the characterful bassline – channelling the vibe of The Beatles “Come Together” in a dystopian electronica kind of way. The chorus feels a little Pet Shop Boys to me, possibly because it uses one of their favoured chord progressions.

Möbius Man is a metaphor for a person caught in a loop – stuck in the drudgery of everyday life. We tend to think of time as a linear construct, but this song challenges this notion. The chorus tackles it another way – “Time follows us ’round, a satellite orbiting like the moon”. So with brevity, the song lyrics are really about the inescapable and cyclical nature of existence.

Yeah, it’s a one-sided plan
He turns on himself
To get what he can
He’s a Möbius man
He’s a Möbius man
Now, he’s falling apart
Follows the road
That leads to the start
He’s a Möbius man
He’s a Möbius man

Yes, it’s true
It feels like it’s never enough, too soon
Time follows us ‘round
A satellite
Orbiting like the Moon

He’s a Möbius man
Caught in a loop
Caught in a loop…

“Möbius Man” features sounds from vintage synths, samplers and drum machines, along with Orchestral string samples from two libraries.