Track Listing

1. 16.12
2. Mere Your Pathetique Light
3. Halcyon (Beautiful Days)
4. 2 Candles, 1 Wish
5. Ode
6. The Sky Remains the Same as Ever
7. Lost Snow
8. A Thousand Paper Cranes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17133 in Music
• Released on: 2004-06-07
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun S
It is unfortunate that Mono are classed as 'post rock'. In a genre of such sonic similarities between bands where it is often difficult to actually tell one band apart from the other, it seems that Mono, without Godspeed's massive ensemble, Mogwai's pedigree, or 65 Days of Static's persistant experimenting have been left by the wayside to some extent.

This is highly unfair, to say the least. While Mono wear their influences on their sleeves, and with some pride too, it has to be pointed out that they are far better than any other 'post rock' band you care to mention. Simply put, Mono rock harder, longer and louder than any of their contempories, while at the same time retaining a sense of delicacy that is so very important to the genre. While Mogwai, for example, always feel the need to counterbalance any instance of 'rocking out' with a long, dirgy outro, Mono pull out all the stops, blasting out swathes of distortion and even savage, primal white noise at times, with a sense of austre technicality and structure that is no less than enviable.

Opening track '16/12' is a fantastic example. After gorgeous waves of distant strings, the most delicate of riffs is introduced. Mono don't loose any attention; over the course of the next 6 minutes, the riff is built up and layered slowly with alarming skill (acieved only with two guitars, bass and drums it must be added, a fact that makes Mogwai's three guitarists seem even more superfluous given the relative simplicity of their output). Suddenly, eveything explodes, a mesmerising arpeggiated riff that manages to be delicate and yet skull crushing is effortlessly introduced, and all hell breaks loose, before finishing just over an immensely satisfying ten minutes.

Other tracks, for example 'A Thousand Paper Cranes' see delay pedals and piano's employed to create a simply otherworldly soundscape, while 'Lost Snow', arguably the album's best track decimates your eardrums with a wall of solid noise not heard on a post rock album since, well, 'Com(?)' on Mono's last long player, before disolving into the quietest, most fragile riff you are ever likely to hear.

It's these dynamics that make 'Walking Cloud...' such an amazing listen. While everone who buy's it is likely to know the formula, simply from familiarity with other instrumental rock bands, Mono's execution of these conventions with such panache and general craftsmanship makes this worthy of anyones money. 'Walking Cloud...' is even more exciting and amazing than it's predeccessors, 'One Step More and You Die' and 'Under the Pipal Tree'. A critisism that existed with the previous albums, is that given the quality of tracks like 'Halcyon' and the aforementioned 'Lost Snow', some of the tracks seem a little bland by comparasion, and the album could have benifited from one or two tracks being cut. However it would be churlish to moan too much, given the overall quality encapsulated on this album. Thus, 'Walking cloud...' sees Mono finaly shaking the tag of a 'Mogwai wanabe', simply by being a hell of a lot better than their supposed superior.

Mono...*insert no words due to being speechless*...
Ok so I'm not speechless...but God what an album! I can't even begin to comprehend sentences that justify how amazing this band are, they are touring at the moment so check their website for UK dates and go see them. They're easily the best band I've ever seen live and absolutely blew me away. Their superb mix of ambient but simple quiet and beautiful music with chaotic loud distorted magic simply blends into one big piece of God. I can't even think where to go...buy everything they own...go see them live...

Godspeed Tribute?
Mono have often been refered to as the Japanese GSYBE and on this release they do little to escape that tag. What we have here is extremely competent band playing epic post rock using the soft loud dynamics of GSYBE and Mogwai even down to the string sections that GSYBE employ. Produced by Mono and the legendary Steve Albini the album starts with the haunting 16.12 with a lush string introduction which builds to a mighty climax. This song sets the tone for the rest of the album with band drawing you in with melodic subtleties than surrounding you with huge walls of sound before masterfully bringing you back down to a mere whisper. Other highlights include Lost Snow which I would say was the albums stand out track. This is obviously a talented group of musicians who have great sense of timing and melody yet they have not managed to escpape the shadow of their influences. Overall this is a solid album but it fails to reach the spine tingling heights that GSYBE provide us with and until they manage to develop a more unique sound they will always be seen as pretenders to GSYBE crown.