 For their fifth LP Japanese post rockers Mono have enlisted a 12 piece chamber orchestra and are again joined by alt-rock genius Steve Albini on knob twiddling duties.
Having set the bar high with previous albums Mono have been quiet for 3 years. Things kick off with a disappointing start. Opener “Ashes In The Snow” both elates and infuriates. While beginning wonderfully it soon feels too long with the orchestra slowing things to a crawl. Mono sound like they’re carrying a docile cumbersome weight, lugging the extra burden through the darkness. The strings lack definition and the over all sound is slightly cliché. But aren’t the sum of parts better than this? Yes they are. Half way through the second track “Burial At Sea” the album pulls itself together and everybody does what they’re supposed to. The band takes the lead, the orchestra wakes up and Albini figures out how to put the two together. Mono sound immediate and raw, the strings swoop and saw, they become symbiotic feeding from each other, meld into one beautiful being capable of great might and mild grace. As usual Mono tick all the emotional boxes and the album flies by but there are surprises too. With “The Battle To Heaven” they achieve something or a rarity in post-rock something you can, and will, dance to.
It would be lazy and dismissive of the maturity and elegance of the work to compare with a soundtrack. Yes, the sound is evocative of landscapes, breaking waves and thunderstorms and the short story/poem contained within the inlay sleeve doesn’t help – nice as it is. Hymn To The Immortal Wind is bigger than that, more than a soundtrack to some daft cross-country drama. This is the soundtrack to looking out the window on a commute, to children playing, a walk in the park, an argument, reconciliation and a night out. This is the soundtrack to your life.
www.monoband.co.uk/
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