Following two extremely well-lauded shows last month in New York City, MONO will be embarking on a full North American tour in September. They released their latest album, Hymn To The Immortal Wind, on Temporary Residence Limited on March 24th. To celebrate both the release of the album and their tenth anniversary, they brought their infamous live show to New York for two nights, backed by the Wordless Music Orchestra. The Seattle Show Girl said of the first night, Trying to describe being at this show is like trying to describe color to a blind person; if you weren’t able to see and hear it for yourself there aren’t words or even media recreations that can appropriately convey the experience.
In 2008, after five years of touring, MONO took a year to focus solely on writing Hymn To The Immortal Wind. The result is their most thoughtful and eclectic album to date. Written and arranged with a hopeful, romantic narrative in mind, the songs string together like chapters in an epic love story. The music is naturally majestic, with MONO’s trademark wall of noise crashing beautifully against the largest chamber orchestra the band has ever enlisted. The instrumentation is vast, incorporating strings, flutes, organ, piano, glockenspiel and tympani into their standard face-melting set-up.
Recorded to analog tape with long-time friend and producer Steve Albini, there is an intimacy captured here that is at once beautiful and a little terrifying. The creaking of old wooden chairs as the orchestra rocks in their seats (both literally and figuratively), puckered lips rolling along flutes, and even the conductor’s opening cue can be heard during the hauntingly quiet opening moments. While Hymn continues to mine the cinematic drama inherent in all of MONO’s music, the dynamic shifts now come more from dark-to-light instead of quiet-to-loud. The maturity to balance these elements so masterfully has become MONO’s strongest virtue – save for perhaps their uncanny ability to sound every bit like a plane crashing into a Beethoven concert.
MONO TOUR DATES
Sep 22: Walter’s On Washington - Houston, TX
Sep 23: Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA
Sep 24: Masquerade (Hell Stage) - Atlanta, GA*
Sep 25: Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC*
Sep 26: Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC*
Sep 27: First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, PA*
Sep 28: Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY*
Sep 29: The Bell House - Brooklyn, NY*
Sep 30: Middle East Downstairs - Cambridge, MA*
Oct 01: La TuLipe - Montreal, QB*
Oct 02: Lee’s Palace - Toronto, ON*
Oct 03: Magic Stick - Detroit, MI*
Oct 04: Bottom Lounge - Chicago, IL*
Oct 05: Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN*
Oct 08: Biltmore Cabaret - Vancouver, BC*
Oct 09: Neumos - Seattle, WA*
Oct 10: Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR*
Oct 12: Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA*
Oct 13: El Rey Theatre - Los Angeles, CA*
Oct 14: Club Congress - Tucson, AZ*
Oct 16: Hailey’s - Denton, TX*
Oct 17: The Mohawk - Austin, TX*
*With Maserati
