REVIEW: Million Moons - You Be Good, I Love You
- Noise Leonard
- Jun 25
- 3 min read
MILLION MOONS, a relatively small group on the London post-rock circuit, are back for their third full-length LP, You Be Good, I Love You. Already striking is the title and artwork, both a reference to Alex the Parrot, a parrot studied by scientists researching animals and their ability to communicate with human intelligence - the title is named after his last words. So it’s all the more effective when you find out the album’s thesis is about the complexity of the animal kingdom, the ultimate thesis being that animals are not “less than” humans.
This is captured immediately on opening track Titan of the Deep. The title refers to the rarely seen colossal squid, reflected by the song’s sweeping tremolo-picked guitars to create an image not of ferocity, but of majesty. The nearly nine-minute runtime allows the piece to breathe - the section five minutes in features driving drums that increase in intensity as does the lead guitar melody, eventually crescendo-ing in a tidal wave of sound. An extremely cinematic depiction of one of the most mysterious creatures on the planet, but a fitting one regardless.
Second track Last Days Together on the other hand is utterly heartbreaking. A song about the final few days with a pet, it evokes THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA’s classic debut album, which Efrim Menuck similarly devoted to his dog Wanda. And while MILLION MOONS are clearly more influenced by groups like MOGWAI, the real sense of sentimentality is present here too. The final climax effortlessly manages to distil a wave of mourning and grief-stricken emotion into just a few minutes.
Secret Histories is undoubtedly the centrepiece of this project, five tracks in and just about the lengthiest piece here. The album as a whole thus far has attempted to paint a picture of wildlife, notably their habitats. Obviously, there’s an elephant in the room here, and multi-instrumentalist Edward Thompson says as much, as a marine conservationist - “it’s truly sad what has happened to their habitats as a result of human activity.” Secret Histories wordlessly approaches this subject head-on, with various changes to the sonic landscape that are impossible to ignore across this piece’s runtime. So many walls of sound that it becomes impossible to turn your head away. It feels like a call to action in a totally non-judgemental way. A reminder of hope in the face of cruel odds, that we are all fighting this together, and not just humanity, at that.
The closer here, Floating For Eternity opens on these soft piano notes, and the type of guitar playing and drumming that wouldn’t feel out of place on a MONO album. As the drums intensify, we reach our first crescendo. The piano plays the same melody, a constant, not quite buried in the ferocity of the unrelenting guitars and drums - and then as it winds down, silence. There’s still just under five minutes left of the song, but nothing plays at all, no matter how long you wait. It’s like what BOARDS OF CANADA did with the silence throughout the duration of Magic Window, it’s clearly purposeful, which makes it all the more unsettling. That’s the note, or rather, lack thereof, that we’re left to ruminate on.
MILLION MOONS’ third full-length is a highly sentimental journey through vibrant sonic palettes that reflect the natural world. While the instrumentation itself isn’t exactly re-inventing the wheel, the intent behind it is extremely commendable, and as a result the imagery provoked by the music is wordlessly and effortlessly more effective as a result. Here’s hoping we hear more from them soon!
Score: 7/10
You Be Good, I Love You will be released on 26th June 2026 via Ripcord Records.
Words: Noise Leonard
Photos: Callum McMillan
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