Mono is releasing their fifth album this year, and it’s entitled Hymn To The Immortal Wind. Not to be confused with the wildly different (but similarly awesome) trip-pop duo from the UK called Mono, the “post-rock” four-piece from Japan deals in the niche markets of ten minute instrumental compositions and thoroughly premeditated album titles ranging from the unwieldy Walking Cloud And Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered And The Sun Shined, to the elegantly badass One Step More And You Die.
Hymn To The Immortal Wind is Mono’s third album produced by Steve Albini and recorded at his studio in Chicago. Ever since Walking Cloud, Albini’s contribution has been palpable. As guitarist and founder Taka Goto asserts, Albini is “the greatest sound engineer for capturing a band’s raw emotion on tape.” I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Mono perform live here in Los Angeles, and they’re indeed fortunate to have a producer capable of preserving the subtleties and the delicate energy of the band’s live set. You can actually hear the orchestra’s wooden chairs creaking if you listen closely.
Mono identifies themselves as a “post-rock” band, a genre that I’ve been occasionally mocked for identifying by skeptical friends. I always took the phrase as a sort of fantasy setting, where the world has ended, and the audible landscape has been completely reset, starting over with classical music created with ancient relic instruments… that just might include electric guitars and big muff pedals. In practice, I use a genre in my iTunes entitled “Classical & Post-Rock,” where you’ll find bands like Mono right alongside Bach, contemporary classical musicians such as Rachel’s, and the “official” post-rock bands including Neurosis, Bossk, and Russian Circles.
While previous Mono releases had moments where teeth were bared and walls of distorted came crashing down in epic, Neurosis-like armageddon, Hymn To The Immortal Wind is thoroughly romantic. My initial impression put Hymn not among my most favorite Mono albums, as I’ve always coveted those vicious breakdowns. However, the album is by no means any less emotional. And perhaps the absence of jarring unhinged paroxysms of distortion and feedback will make this album an accessible entry point for the potential new fans the band deserves to win over.
We could be talking about you, if you’re a fan of Sigur Rós or Red Sparowes, or if Hymn’s lead single Follow The Map interests you:
On the other hand, if you lean more towards the metal and you’re a big Neurosis / Isis fan, you may want to dig a little deeper into Mono’s back catalog. We recommend checking out the trailer for the band’s DVD The Sky Remains The Same As Ever, and other YouTubed goodies such as this, and this fan-shot video of the band performing Moonlight, the closing track to 2006’s You Are There:
Hope you enjoy one of my favorite bands that noone has ever heard of.
Hymn To The Immortal Wind
March 24, 2009
Temporary Residence Limited
1. Ashes In The Snow
2. Burial At Sea
3. Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn
4. Pure As Snow (Trails Of The Winter Storm)
5. Follow The Map
6. The Battle To Heaven
7. Everlasting Light
- 01. Ashes In The Snow
- 02. Burial At Sea
- 03. Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn
- 04. Pure As Snow
- 05. Follow The Map
- 06. The Battle Of Heaven
- 07. Everlasting Light
That was pretty cool. I liked it all, the metal and the mellow. Kinda Pink Floydish, Sonic Youthy, in a way, too. Crazy lead guitarist. Nothin beats good ol fashioned headstock-against-the-stage Fender feedback. I like the SG bass, too. She’s rockin it.
Would be great in the right mood, or (and I swear I mean this as a compliment) as soundtrack music. Its a bit mellodramatic for casual listening, IMO. Good stuff tho.
I’ve seen these guys live five times, and they’ve never failed to leave me blown away with my hair sticking straight back and my eyes watering, like I was in a wind tunnel. They create a sound tunnel. I was lucky enough to have a friend who was into them back in 2002 or so, and we caught them at the Sunset in Seattle on their first American tour. None of them could speak English very well at that point, and somehow they hadn’t understood that there would be no food for them at the bar. They hadn’t eaten all day; my friend and I heard this exchange and offered to go get them some food. They requested Teriyaki, and after a fruitless 45-minute search (in Seattle at 10pm on a Saturday night) we just got them some Azteca tacos. They were still grateful. And they’re still about the best live band I’ve ever heard.
And that’s my “ooh look at me I’ve kinda sorta met semi-famous foreign rock stars back when they were all underground and shit” story!
ha, well it’s a good one. :)
[...] formally introduced you to the oddly named genre of post-rock with Mono’s Hymn To The Immortal Wind early this year. If you enjoyed that, or if you’re already a fan of [...]