WALKING CLOUD AND DEEP RED SKY, FLAG FLUTTERED AND THE SUN SHINED

This new genre of progressive rock acts keep producing sprawling double sets to keep us entertained. And it works, though there is often little in the way variety, through the often hour plus length of music on these albums, it is very much needed for the ambient mood created. I for one warmly welcome it and especially the excellent use of vinyl and the packaging with these albums. Walking Cloud And Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered And The Sun Shined is a mouthful of a title, and at first just sounds pretentious. But more than anything I found a melancholy beyond the pretension, and only through repeated listens to this album did the somewhat ambient, fragmented melancholic tone of the title ring through but ever so quiet. But the album title is so very much like the music on this album if taken at first hand. Noise terrorist and former Big Black guitarist/spokesperson, Steve Albini records the band here so it could be assumed that the sound is an overall pure one, though there is a wide multitude of layered instruments (electric and acoustic) and meshed sounds wired throughout the energy of this set of instrumentals soundscapes. Sometimes the band sound like they are going nowhere, but this lack or urgency must be on purpose, Albini's records sound rough at the best of times and Mono sound ragged on occasions. The music is very often frustrating, can even be regarded as static as they get caught on a weave of instrumentation. The pieces build but never fully flow out. The textures are rich and vibrant but often teetering on the brink, if only vaguely. Sometimes it can be hard to explain an album such as this, but for this listener that is a strength of this album. There is still a lot more to come from this Japanese outfit. At the very least, Cloud And Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered And The Sun Shined is a very interesting album. Not a million miles from four stars, but still hanging off three...

Agree with Anuszka here - MONO are overfilled with emotions and melodies, denying any experimental leanings most of the time. Agin one can find 2 long tracks, 3 shorter ones and 3 interludes here, in typical MONO vein, and that's here, when it comes to love/hate line. Either you like them very much (as I do - 4 stars along with words like "typical" in review!) or not (like it happens with me and MOGWAI - it seems I'll never find anything to be surprised with in their music). Recommended, but beware - I'm a hopeless biased MONO fan-boy! :)

Japan's post-rock powerhouse gets some international guest stars in (including Steve Albini on production duties for extra indie rock cred) and brings out another compelling post-rock piece. It's very much in the same vein as that established by the likes of Mogwai or Godspeed You Black Emperor, but Mono are one of the few bands who pull off that style with such flair that it doesn't particularly matter that they don't sound enormously different from their inspirations. Mono just about manage to retain their own identity through their careful production and tight songwriting, which stands in contrast to the ramshackle improvisations of the other two groups, and on this album Steve Albini's production is perfect for Mono's painstaking and perfectionist take on post-rock.