If the famed Italian composer Ennio Morricone is synonymous with the music of "Spaghetti Western" movies than the best way I can describe the music of
MONO (their live performances anyway) is like a "Sushi Western"...
...that, or sex music for drug people.
There is an air of mystery to them, for sure. They take the stage with nary a word to anyone and launch into light and fanciful guitar work that cascades into a vast, roaring sea of noise. Dialed in, calculated noise. Nothing that happens on the stage happens without MONO intending for it to. Ten years of perfecting their sound has led to a band so disciplined that, at some points during the show, it almost seems as if the music is making itself... it's that organic.
MONO's current tour is in support of their latest album,
For My Parents. Their newest material comprised the bulk of the setlist as their latest effort was just released on September 4th.
The choice of songs performed at the show was the one minor drawback for me. Everything was performed impeccably but songs tended to become indiscernible from one another at times due to the overarching theme of
For My Parents. It would have been nice to hear some more material from their back catalog (which, I know, is often a complaint of fans... I also go back to one of the greatest statements I've ever heard a musician make from stage when Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth said something along the lines of "You may not like some of the music we are about to play but as musicians we feel that it is important to like the music you make. If you're going to release new music then you need to stand behind it... and we like our music. We're not going to go on tour and play the same tired songs every tour like some other bands do, no, we are always moving forward". That has stuck with me and I will always respect an artists' motivation to share their newest music with their audience). I also realize that MONO's songs are almost all over ten minutes long and there are only so many songs they can play in a given night.
The energy certainly made up for any similarities between songs, however. One doesn't often associate "high energy" with a band that features both guitarists sitting on stools for the major duration of a show... MONO proves that theory to be incorrect. Guitarists Takaakira Goto and Hideki Suematsu emitted focused energy whether they were fingerpicking light chord shapes or thrashing away at their guitars with tremolo picking insanity. All while Tamaki Kunishi kept the driving rhythm going via bass or piano as she swayed back and forth to the force of the song. This was all brought together by the thunderous drumming of Yasunori Takada who made judicious use of both a timpani and gong in addition to his standard drum kit... the gong was awesome and, for once, fully utilized rather than serving as a showpiece for an egomaniacal rock drummer who only uses it to finish a drum solo.
No vocals. No crowd banter. No egos. Pure instrumental symphonic music.
After attending the show, I am certainly looking forward to checking out more of their back catalog to see what their other material sounds like.
