Mono - Walking Cloud and the Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined

Mono
Walking Cloud and the Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined
Temporary Residence Ltd.
Grade: A-/A

Not to be dismayed by the gluttonous album title, this is some of the most dreamily amazing instrumental music I’ve ever heard. It is the kind of music that you can put on when you at your worst – screaming, angered, bothered, blinking thoughts echoing in your brain not allowing you to concentrate – and it soothes you, relaxes you and allows you to feel like everything is okay. Though it is not as if this Tokyo four-piece write uplifting, happy, sunshine numbers; in fact, most songs have an edge of melancholy. Recorded and mixed by Steven Albini, Walking Cloud puts out eight tracks of utter pleasure and pure loveliness. It probably goes without saying that a majority of the songs wind down long paths and take up to fifteen minutes for completion (e.g., “Lost Snow”). The record begins brilliantly on the ten minute “16.12” as Mono slowly builds the song till sweeping crescendos, serving as a great introduction to the band. The rest of the record is just as glorious with highlights coming from “Halcyon (Beautiful Days),” “Ode,” the distorted rock “Lost Snow” and the magical closer “A Thousand Paper Cranes.” Walking Cloud is a record that I will recommend to people for a long time to come.