Mono
Mono is an experimental Japanese rock outfit. Since 1999 they've offered a dynamic, atmospheric, shapeshifting, classically tinged sound that lends itself to long compositions, drama, improvisation, and tension. 2004's Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined bridged detuned raw power to lush, delicate beauty. 2006's Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain and 2012's For My Parents (in collaboration with producer World's End Girlfriend) employed strings, reeds, and a vocal chorus. In 2014 they simultaneously issued Rays of Darkness and Last Dawn. Drummer Yasunori Takada left after 2016's Requiem for Hell, replaced by Dahm Majuri Cipolla. Mono released Nowhere Now Here in 2019 and Pilgrimage of the Soul in 2021. The following year, they wrote the soundtrack to the documentary film My Story, The Baraku Story and surprise released Heaven, Vol. 1 on Christmas Day.
The foursome, bassist Tamaki (the lone female in the group), drummer Yasunori Takada, and guitarists Takaakira "Taka" Goto and Yoda, released their first full-length record, Under the Pipal Tree, in 2001 on John Zorn's Tzadik label. After switching to Arena Rock Recording Company in 2003, Mono issued One Step More and You Die; a remix version came out the following year as New York Soundtracks. That same year, their fourth album, Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined, recorded in Chicago with producer Steve Albini, was released on Temporary Residence. Albini performed the same duties on their April 2006 record You Are There, and in September the band issued Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain, a mix of classical and rock that also featured a collaboration with World's End Girlfriend, among others. Their fascination with classical arrangements, strings, and atmospheres became an integral part of their sound. In 2006 they recorded You Are There, which included cellos on one part of the album and a string section on another while retaining the dynamic- and tension-building sound that had become the band's trademark, weaving beauty and chaos together to form an inseparable whole. On 2009's Hymn to the Immortal Wind, the band played live with a 25-piece chamber orchestra that featured woodwinds, reeds, and strings -- and added a Hammond B-3 in spots to extend the orchestral dynamic. This culminated in 2010's Holy Ground: NYC Live with Mono accompanied by the Wordless Music Orchestra, another large chamber ensemble featuring everything from harp and strings to winds and piano. For 2012's For My Parents, they employed a smaller chamber group conducted by Jeff Milarsky and dubbed the Holy Ground Orchestra, comprising two violins, two cellos, viola, upright bass, timpani, and cymbals.
After a global tour and a break, Mono returned to the studio in 2013 and recorded two albums simultaneously as parts of a whole. The Last Dawn was lighter, briefer, and more melodic; once again, it placed the band in sonic juxtaposition with strings. The second part, Rays of Darkness, didn't include strings for the first time since 2003. It was far blacker and heavier, and featured a guest vocal appearance by Tetsuya Fukagawa of Envy. Both albums were released by Temporary Residence in October of 2014. The following year, Mono signed with Pelagic (the label of German metal act the Ocean). Both bands collaborated on a split album called Transcendental. The recording prefaced a joint European tour. Each band contributed a single extended track. Mono's "Death in Reverse" served to complement the Ocean's "The Quiet Observer" in that both cuts explored themes of life, death, and rebirth/regeneration, as well as the in-between "bardo" states. The album was released at the end of October by Pelagic. In July 2016, Mono released the 18-minute "Ely's Heartbeat" on the Internet as the pre-release single from the full-length Requiem for Hell, issued by Temporary Residence that October.
In December of 2017, after the completion of an extensive world tour with the Ocean, Mono announced via social media that founding member Takada was leaving the group for personal reasons. He was replaced by Dahm Majuri Cipolla just in time for the live performances that began in August of the following year. Mono had entered Electrical Audio, again with Albini, earlier that year, and in January of 2019 issued the full-length Nowhere Now Here. To ice the cake on their 20-year anniversary celebration, Mono returned to Albini's Chicago studio while on a tour break. They recut three of their earliest songs -- "Com(?)," "L'America," and "Halo" -- live from the studio floor. They issued them without overdubs or post-production as Before the Past: Live from Electrical Audio. In March 2021, Mono released a document of its remarkable 2019 British concert as Beyond the Past: Live in London with the Platinum Anniversary Orchestra.
After the global COVID-19 pandemic ended the rest of their world tour, Mono spent the summer of 2020 writing, recording, and mixing. The end result, Pilgrimage of the Soul, was issued in October of 2021. It showcased an evolved sound offering faster tempos, electronics, and rhythms influenced by disco, techno, and other dance music. 2022 saw the release of their first score and soundtrack for the feature-length documentary My Story, The Buraku Story, by director Yusaku Mitsuwaka. The songs were largely built around piano, strings, synths, and choral vocal loops offering a sharp contrast in musical direction and production methods, but continued to offer understated execution and oversized emotional resonance.
On Christmas Day, Mono released the three-track EP Heaven, Vol. 1 for the Ocean's Pelagic label in Germany. The EP marked the beginning of a tradition that would see the band issue an EP of new material annually on Christmas. Recorded by Taka in his home studio, it offered an aural portrait of Mono at their most hopeful and cinematic. The EP saw U.S. release by longtime indie Temporary Residence in March 2023.
© Thom Jurek & Marisa Brown /TiVo
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Hymn to the Immortal Wind (Anniversary Edition)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Temporary Residence Ltd. on 24 Mar 2009
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Formica Blues (25th Anniversary Edition)
Pop - Released by Echo on 1 Jan 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Transcendental
Alternative & Indie - Released by Pelagic Records on 23 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Exit in Darkness
Rock - Released by Pelagic Records on 14 Dec 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Story, The Buraku Story (An Original Soundtrack)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Temporary Residence Ltd. on 27 May 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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For My Parents
Alternative & Indie - Released by Temporary Residence Ltd. on 4 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
You Are There
Alternative & Indie - Released by Temporary Residence Ltd. on 11 Apr 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nowhere Now Here
Rock - Released by Pelagic Records on 25 Jan 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Beyond the Past • Live in London with the Platinum Anniversary Orchestra (Live with the Platinum Anniversary Orchestra)
Rock - Released by Pelagic Records on 19 Mar 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined
Alternative & Indie - Released by Temporary Residence Ltd. on 14 Apr 2004
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Exit in Darkness
Rock - Released by Pelagic Records on 29 Nov 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
One Step More and You Die
Alternative & Indie - Released by Temporary Residence Ltd. on 2 Oct 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Requiem for Hell
Alternative & Indie - Released by Pelagic Records on 14 Oct 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Holy Ground: NYC Live with the Wordless Music Orchestra
Alternative & Indie - Released by Temporary Residence Ltd. on 27 Apr 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Last Dawn
Alternative & Indie - Released by Pelagic Records on 28 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo