[ATTENDED: May 20,2019] Mono
It seems entirely possible that I could subsist on rock bands from Japan for a couple of months. Between Acid Mothers Temple, Boris and now Mono, I have an amazing collection of experiences both on record and in person.
I was unfamiliar with Mono when Union Transfer announced that they’d be playing a “big, intense show, like usual.” But I had to check them out… (especially since tickets were only $10–a criminally low price for such an amazing show).
Mono has released some ten albums (plus EPs and more) since 2001. They have been a band since 1999 with only one lineup change. The original drummer left in 2018 and was replaced by New Yorker Dahm Majuri Cipolla.
It must be tough to join a band that’s been together for nearly twenty years, especially one that is as dynamic and dramatic as Mono, but he filled the shoes wonderfully.
The rest of the band is Tamaki Kunishi on bass. She was great fun to watch since the three guys were seated for most of the show. She anchored everything with her steady playing –which often catapulted into full on rocking chords on the bass.
I was more or less in front of guitarist Hideki “Yoda” Suematsu. He played primarily rhythm guitar but he also played a lot of the melodies of the music as well. In fact, while the other guitar is soaring, it is Yoda (along with Tamaki) who keeps the song in place. He also had a lot of effects on the ground and spent minutes at the end of each song twisting and turning things, ekeing out whatever kinds of feedbacking sounds he could generate.
I have since read that they record all of their albums live, so he must be quite familiar with what effects generate what sounds.
The show opened with “God Bless,” a two minute introductory song that was played primarily by Yoda. He played the beautiful shimmering chords and guitar picking as it segued into “After You Comes the Flood.” And that’s where Takaakira “Taka” Goto came in.
Taka formed the band and it was his idea to create the gorgeous instrumental post-rock soundscapes that the band specializes is.
For yes, Mono is a post-rock band not unlike Explosions in the Sky (who are also amazing live). Although Mono tends to use a lot more reverb in their quieter moments (on record they have used orchestration–although live it was just the four of them).
They have a minimal set up–two stools for the guitars and then just amps and drums. But their lighting is perfectly precise–highlighting the four of them as they play and creating wonderfully moody textures of light and dark.
I was there to see loud building instrumentals and that is what they delivered. I loved watching the bass and drums get louder and faster as Taka’s chords inched higher up the fretboard.
And while some of these songs can have a similar trajectory, it’s the way the drums play different textures that can really distinguish the tracks. The songs run through a series of moods and still resolve in a beautiful, catchy melody.
It’s tempting to say that all post-rock songs start quietly and slowly build over 7 minutes to a giant crescendo. But I was really impressed with the diversity of sound the band generated. And not just from a song like “Breathe” which featured Tamaki Kunishi on keys and vocals (!). It was a quiet, moody piece that worked as a wonderful pacifier amid all of the intensity,
After “Breathe” they played “Sorrow” a song that starts quietly with beautiful melody. It grows and grows in scope until it sounds like there are more than just four people on stage. And at some point one of them hits a new pedal and the whole song gets twice as big and distorted. You can’t focus on anything else until it all ends.
This was the bands 20th anniversary tour, so I assumed they’d be playing songs from throughout their career, or maybe focusing on their first album, but they had just released Nowhere Now Here, which is just breathtaking and I am really happy that they focused so much of the show on it.
The crowd certainly knew the album, but they also murmured appreciatively when the band started older songs. “Halcyon (Beautiful Days)” starts as a kind of bluesy number–a very different sound for the band. The recording includes strings, but the band played it without. It’s a beautiful song which Taka describes as “written to show our feelings of getting hopes and dreams, together with appreciation.” [quotes taken from their website] The song is nearly five minutes of quiet beauty such that when it exploded in guitars and drums about 6 minutes in, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
When “Ashes in the Snow” started with both Tamaki and Dahm playing glockenspiel, I knew the song would be special. They both played a lovely melody. Taka says, “I used Glockenspiels at the beginning, left being the young girl and right being the young boy, to portray their souls seeking for each other over time (like echoing to each other).”
The song ended and the bass and drum left the stage while the two guitars bent over their pedals squeezing out the final noises.
Then moments later they came back out for the encore.
When they started the notes for “Com(?)” the person next to me went “alright” just loud enough for me to hear, which I took as a ringing endorsement. And I was not to be disappointed. About this song Tamaki says,
I played imagining the darkest and heaviest violence at the time. This song broke my bass strings twice during performances, and those were the only times that has happened in my long bassist’s life. This was a suitable song for my young self to throw my anger, sadness and dishonesty into. It made me feel better after every time I played. People say music save people’s hearts, but I may be able to calm my heart by just playing.
The song was intensity in some fifteen minutes (I have no idea how long the live version was). In the end, Taka even played the guitar with his teeth or his face or something
For the entire show I was waiting for Dahm to hit his gong. As “”Com?” ended, I knew the gong would be used soon, but I turned away to watch Yoda mess with his pedals figuring the end would be drawn out further, and that’s when he smashed the gong.
This show was fantastic. I enjoyed it so much. I still can’t believe it was only $10 (and technically free with my gift). And yes, I will absolutely see them again.
SETLIST (no one would let me get close enough to snap a clear picture of the setlist)
- God Bless ⊗
- After You Comes the Flood ⊗
- Death in Rebirth Ψ
- Breathe ⊗
- Sorrow ⊗
- Meet Us Where The Night Ends ⊗
- Halcyon (Beautiful Days) ϖ
- Ashes in the Snow ≅
encore - Com(?) ¹
⊗ Nowhere Now Here (2019)
Ψ = Requiem for Hell (2016)
≅ = Hymn to the Immortal Wind (2009)
ϖ = Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (2004)
¹ = One More Step and You Die (2002)
I Just Read About That... 
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