‘Many Moons’ finds Terrestrials turning uncertainty into something loud, restless and strangely freeing.
Terrestrials don’t really give you time to settle into ‘Many Moons’.
The drums and guitar arrive together, perfectly locked in, and within seconds the whole thing is already moving.
Fuck yeah. Give me more of that.
“Trying to process the many moons in full view,” Scott Alexander sings early on, and that line got me.
Because who hasn’t been there?
There always seems to be something sitting just outside the thing you’re currently dealing with. Another decision, another version of yourself you’re supposed to become, another thing you should probably be brave enough to try.
And sometimes the fear of getting it wrong is enough to keep you exactly where you are.
That’s where ‘Many Moons’ sits.
The South East Melbourne band’s first original release since 2023’s Iridescent looks at failure not as some terrible full stop, but as one of the more useful parts of becoming a person.
You try. You fuck it up. You learn something. Hopefully you get a little better at being alive.
This sounds simple enough in theory, but it’s much harder when it’s your own life.
I think this might be part of why I’ve always had a soft spot for progressive and alternative rock. At its best, it gives those oversized feelings somewhere equally oversized to go.
There’s no embarrassment about emotion here.
Alexander’s vocal is a huge part of what makes ‘Many Moons’ work. There’s real pressure behind it, that kind of delivery where you can hear somebody reaching for the feeling rather than simply singing the notes correctly.
I remember reading somewhere that one of the ingredients of a great rock song is a highly emotive male vocal.
I may be absolutely mangling the theory, but whatever.
This has it.
Alexander knows how to push without turning everything into melodrama, and the band around him gives those vocals plenty of room to land.
Adrian Duke’s guitar, Lee Armstrong’s bass and Ben Benton’s drums are incredibly tight, but importantly, ‘Many Moons’ never feels like a progressive rock band trying to prove how technically impressive they are.
The musicianship serves the song.
That should probably be obvious, but it isn’t always.
And then the track lifts again.
It’s one of those tiny changes that suddenly makes you sit forward a little.
Fuck yeah.
Recorded at Sing Sing Studio with longtime collaborator Luke Cincotta, ‘Many Moons’ has plenty of polish, but there’s still some grit around its edges.
You can hear the band’s heavier foundations, along with the melodic instincts that place them somewhere in the orbit of Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus and Deftones.
There’s more movement underneath it now too.
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Since drummer Ben Benton joined following Iridescent, Terrestrials have been bringing elements of jazz, funk and Latin music into their heavier framework, and you can feel some of that looseness creeping into the way ‘Many Moons’ moves.
It’s subtle, but it gives the track a looser, more interesting pulse.
And maybe that’s what I like most about it.
Here is a song about the fear of moving forward, made by a band that sounds very comfortable doing exactly that.
Failure might be uncomfortable.
Staying still forever sounds worse.
Listen to ‘Many Moons’ below, and if you’re around Fitzroy tonight, catch the band launching the single at The Catfish. Tickets here.
