Since 1999, Japan’s MONO has been changing the world one cathartic post-rock crescendo at a time, delivering 13 full-length LPs and a slew of EPs and compilations over their insanely prolific run.
“My original vision was just to form an incredibly loud, beautiful, and powerful guitar band and play as many shows as possible,” says bandleader Takaakira “Taka” Goto. “In that sense, nothing has changed.”
MONO sounds like what would happen if a guitar band wrote a symphonic composition, their music drawing a sonic throughline from My Bloody Valentine and Unwound back to Romantic composers like Richard Strauss. The band’s instrumental approach means there’s no denoted meaning for listeners to latch onto in any specific song, requiring listeners to create their own meaning. Every song and album becomes a soundtrack for your life, your triumphs and tribulations matched with the band’s swelling, maximalist songwriting.
This year marks MONO’s 25th year as a band. In that time, they’ve continually pushed the boundaries of rock music, incorporating a multitude of instruments in service of furthering their core vision. Even when augmented by the massive orchestration that would accompany their later records, MONO’s innate musical chemistry always shines through. Each musician is in conversation with the others as they use guitars, bass, and drums to improvise and develop new feelings and sounds. Every time a new instrument enters the mix, it’s just another voice in the conversation, helping to tell the story you bring to their music.
Below, a guide to some MONO’s essential records.
One Step More and You Die
2 x Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
There’s a lot to love on MONO’s debut, Under the Pipal Tree, but it wasn’t until sophomore album, One Step More and You Die, that they truly fleshed out their identity as a band, introducing noisier instrumentation that bordered on heavy metal. “Com(?)” is the band’s first “epic,” a song nearing 16 minutes that feels like an emotional odyssey through anger and sadness. Midway through, they prove they can throw down a hell of a riff, letting it distort and combust into millions of pieces through the rest of the runtime.
It’s also on this record that they demonstrate how the smallest gestures are often the most important. “Sabbath” is deceptively simple, stitching delicate guitar strums into a larger tapestry of emotion and feeling.
Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined
2 x Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
Walking Clouds marked the first time MONO collaborated with the late, legendary producer Steve Albini. “He was the world’s best engineer, partner, and the biggest supporter of our music,” says Goto. “At the same time, he was our hero and teacher, almost like a soulmate. For 22 years, we learned everything from him; not just about music but his stance as a musician and everything about life as well. He was always our guiding principle.”
Albini’s presence is immediately felt as the band’s sonic palette grows much richer. Guitars sound crunchier than ever on songs like “16.12,” a tidal wave of tremolo-picking crashing over a thunderous bass riff. The record also introduces what would soon become a staple for MONO: a tight but effective string section, leading to wondrous results like the album closer “A Thousand Paper Cranes.”
You Are There
2 x Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
It’s hard not to feel the emotions and beauty running through You Are There, from its life-affirming album title to its cover art painted by post-rock mainstay Esteban Ray. Arguably, this is the record where all the pieces seemed to click into place for MONO, as the band locks into a sound that genuinely feels magical. “Yearning” is easily the best rock song in the band’s catalog, Goto delivering a guitar melody that genuinely sounds like it’s crying out for something, before riffing into a heavy track that sounds like it could’ve been on Sonic Youth’s Dirty.
The emotional landscape of sound reaches a peak of complexity on “Moonlight,” which builds up to a truly remarkable climax. It’s a mirror of a song, reflecting back to the listener anger, sadness, hope, and exuberance all at the same time.
Hymn to the Immortal Wind
2 x Vinyl LP
MONO’s visions of grandeur were fully realized on Hymn to the Immortal Wind, as the band employed a massive 28-piece chamber orchestra for the record. “When we first recorded the third album, Walking Cloud��with Steve in 2003 at Electrical Audio in Chicago, we used four string players: two violinists and two cellists,” says Goto. “But I felt that it was not as gorgeous as the sound I had in mind, so I requested Steve to overdub the strings, and he said, ‘Taka, that’s fake. If you want a bigger, more gorgeous sound, you should add more string players.’”
Gorgeous is an applicable word here, as the record does feel like a larger-than-life achievement. “Ashes in the Snow” is truly maximalist, the guitars reaching a critical mass of feeling and power and allowing the orchestra to methodically integrate into the rest of the band’s music.
Holy Ground: NYC Live with the Wordless Music Orchestra
Compact Disc (CD)
One of the most impressive releases in MONO’s discography is their 2010 live record, Holy Ground: NYC Live with the Wordless Music Orchestra. Hot off the heels of Hymn to the Immortal Wind, the band assembled a live orchestra to bring their music to life. “We got the idea from Jeremy [Devine], the owner of Temporary Residence, to hold an orchestra show in New York to commemorate our 10th anniversary,” says Goto. “This was our first time holding a concert with an orchestra, and we knew that organizing concerts like this was a big, big risk for Temporary Residence.”
Thankfully, the risk paid off in a huge way. Albini’s earlier adage about playing with an actual orchestra comes through masterfully here, as MONO’s sound is bolstered by the full arrangement. Producer Matt Bayles takes the reins, giving the performance a lush sounding mix that captures both the grit and beauty of the live execution. Then-recent songs from Hymn to the Immortal Wind are expectedly massive, but earlier cuts like Walking Cloud’s “Halcyon (Beautiful Days)” receive a newfound depth in the live forum.
For My Parents
2 x Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
MONO’s explosion following Hymn to the Immortal Wind meant nonstop touring. Afterwards, Goto looked to take a much-needed break and reconnect with his family. “At the time, I wanted to learn more about classical music,” he says. “I learned that the music of Gustav Mahler and Beethoven was influenced by the folk music of their home country. So I traveled to Japan to experience that, and at the end of the trip, I decided to visit my parents, whom I hadn’t seen in nearly 10 years at that time.”
That feeling of reconnection and interest in classical composition collide as MONO strips away the size of their previous orchestral backing while maintaining its essential components. The band leads the flow here as the string section acts like a shadow, catching up to what’s happening on songs like “Dream Odyssey.” Though MONO’s strength has always been in allowing its listeners to interpret their music however they choose, it’s difficult not to visualize a son reconnecting with his parents on “A Quiet Place (Together We Go),” and the pure feeling that comes with it.
My Story, the Buraku Story
Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
From small town sports dramas to convoluted time travel epics, it seems that every post-rock band is destined to eventually soundtrack a film. MONO, however, held out from Hollywood theatrics and instead lent their talents to Yûsaku Mitsuwaka’s documentary, My Story, The Buraku Story. The documentary centers around Japan’s Burakumin, a class of people discriminated against for having “impure” occupations or bloodlines, leading to massive ostracization from society.
The documentary mostly consists of interviews with its subjects in intimate scenes in their homes, humanizing them through the course of their daily lives. Despite their earlier use of film soundtrack-tier orchestras, MONO’s approach is barebones and impactful, never overpowering any of the scenes, and leaning into their then-new exploration of electronic elements. It’s perhaps the closest the band have gotten to “minimalism,” insofar as what it means within their auditory language.
OATH
2 x Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
Twenty-five years in, OATH feels like a reflection on MONO itself, as the band dreams up a journey through the many sounds and harmonies they’ve explored throughout their career. Narrating the record in some ways is a recurring synth sound that weaves through many of the tracks. “The synth loop at the beginning of the album OATH represents my tributes, memories, and thoughts of the important people I have lost in the last five years, including my father and many friends,” says Goto. “The synth loop appears in different forms many times throughout the album and continues through the ending of the final song, ‘Time Goes By.’”
There’s a sadness throughout the record for those lost, but also an inherent sense of gratitude, of happiness for having known them in the first place. OATH is one of the last albums that Albini recorded, and that gratitude extends to what he’s produced here. It’s an awareness of life’s pain and beauty that has been at the heart of MONO from the beginning. “Life is finite and not eternal, but after a person dies, the pride they have in what they have given to others and left behind is eternal,” says Goto. “I always believe that we should not live in a competitive society where we compare ourselves to others, but that each person should have their own unique personality and should be able to live their own way. We don’t even know what tomorrow will bring.”
