I’m just going outside and may be some time. These were the last words spoken by Captain Lawrence Oates before he walked into the ice and snow and disappeared forever. Considered an act of nobility, Oates’ sacrifice was made that his shipmates might survive. I May Be Some Time remembers Oates, as well as other Antarctic explorers including Admiral Shackleton, whose quote “We were helpless intruders in a strange world” graces one track, while the ships Aurora and Terra Nova become the basis for others.
The race to the South Pole was fraught with delay and difficulty, which paled in comparison to the danger of becoming stuck in the ice, or striking out hundreds of miles in hopes of hitting an island, or starvation, or freezing to death, or gangrene. Yet these explorers soldiered on, the saddest being Robert Falcon Scott, who finally reached the South Pole only to discover a note indicating that Roald Amundsen had gotten there a month earlier.
Million Moons packs their album with all the power and the pathos of the polar expeditions. Like their debut album, I May Be Some Time rocks, but its greatest heights are reached in its moments of dynamic contrast, the most striking of which occurs in the title track in a quartet of screeches. At other times, the post-rock crescendos recede to reveal gorgeous piano passages, like smooth sailing between icebergs, a break in the weather, a glimmer of hope. But more than anything, the music captures the sense of nobility which history has granted all of these explorers, successful or not. The opening “Terra Nova” yields no sense of what is to come; the music sounds triumphant, as if the expeditions has just begun, the ship left harbor with high hopes and achievable dreams. When the drums come crashing in, the track achieves a sense of open-water majesty. “Uncharted Waters” yields that same rush of hope, with a swift tempo and an upbeat tone. The breakdown contributes a feeling of awe, as if one has reached the end of the map without incident, the sea a blank blue page. We know things are going to turn; we just don’t know when.
The piano interludes of “Voice of the Wild” are indications that the men are settling in, that their initial excitement is now tempered with boredom, and perhaps a bit of doubt. “Intruders in a Strange World” shifts from ambient to nearly metal, an indication that something may be amiss. By the time the title track arrives, the explorers realize that they may be in over their heads; the screeches – the album’s loudest sounds – are their first warning that they may not be returning home after all. But Million Moons, like eternal optimist Shackleton, refuses to dwell in dourness. “Endure, Overcome” is a call to arms, a challenge “to be brave cheerily, to be patient with a glad heart, to stand the agonies of thirst with laughter and song, to walk beside death for months and never be sad.” And while we can’t imagine that the explorer was never sad, his survival story continues to inspire. In like fashion, I May Be Some Time challenges listeners to press onward, press upward, press toward the unknown, simply because it is there. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 