Mono - Gone: A Collection of EPs 2000-2007

Mono
Gone: A Collection of EPs 2000-2007
Temporary Residence Ltd.
Grade: A-

As the title denotes, this record is a collection of hard to find releases by the glorious Japanese instrumental band Mono. The four-piece from Tokyo have consistently offered inspired, magical soundscapes that rival Explosions in the Sky but with their own intricate sound waves. Besides from several full-lengths, not the least of which is the mind-blowing 2004 album Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky…, Mono have released a number of splits, EPs, and singles in their history. Gone starts on the powerful “Finlandia” an eight-minute powerhouse who on its own establishes Mono as one of the world’s best. The longer and more moody “Black Woods” follows – both “Finlandia” and “Black Woods” were originally released in 2000 on Forty-4 Records. The story length “Yearning” is from a split with Pelican co-released by TRL and Hydra Head in 2005, and is the first of Mono’s work with uber-producer Steve Albini. The next two songs “Memorie dal Futuro” and “Due foglia, una candela: il soffio del Vento” are much soft offerings for the Cameron Crowe-commissioned Memorie dal Futuro 10. There’s a high probability you’ve heard the soothing “Since I’ve Been Waiting For You,” featured on TRL’s 2005 comp Thankful. The final four songs come from TRL’s long running Travels in Constants series. Different bands have used different strategies to make their series available to a wider audience after the specialty run. Here, Mono collects “Gone,” “Black Rain,” “Rainbow,” and “Little Boy (1945-Future)” into a combination of softer and harder numbers. Not of small measure, much of Mono’s music sounds exactly like the several month-old HBO documentary on the nuclear attacks on Japan in WWII, though it isn’t the same; though one must assume some relevance given “Little Boy (1945-Future)”?