The music of Japanese quartet Mono is about light and shade, offering searing orchestral post rock, with epic 10 minute plus excursions, filled with peaks and valleys, with incredible subtlety and an astounding capacity for grandeur.
Everything about their music feels larger than life, grand suites of sonic overload, sweeping textural tapestries of sound. With four albums in eight years, it’s the intensity of their crescendos, where they reach the summit and hold on to the white hot intensity, taking their guitars, bass and drums into an almost spiritual realm, giving the impression they’re throwing everything they’ve got into the mix. Bob Baker Fish spoke to guitarist and composer Takaakira ‘Taka’ Goto via email on the eve of their Australian tour.
“Playing the music is yearning for beauty of life,” he says. “We’re yelling, crying and laughing through our music with all of our heart on the stage.”
Somehow even when I listen to some of your more gentle moments I can tell that hiding behind it, or in a few minutes time, there will be something huge and searing. Do you consciously try to imbue even your softer moments with this meaning?
“No. I don’t do it consciously. Like scenes of the film, each sound has its own meaning and expression. It just naturally comes out as it does.”
Dynamics are incredibly important to Mono, with gentle subtle moments and searing violent sounds often existing in the same song. Though it feels highly arranged I’m wondering how much improvising or jamming plays a part in the initial part of the composition process?
“We don’t do any jam sessions or improvisation at the stage of composing a song. We complete the composition and the arrangement before going into the recording studio. But for each instrument, we play numerous sessions over and over to find the best ensemble, nuance, dynamics, orchestration that are to express best the feelings, flow of emotions, story and ambient of that particular song.”
When you write songs do you think of them in terms of multiple peaks and troughs? Do you always think of music on an epic scale?
“Personally, I have a feeling I’m looking into my subconscious when I’m in the process of writing music. Every day and night, I’m looking for melody and arrangement, which can evoke hope, joy and courage that can bring us beyond fear and darkness. Sometimes it comes to me at without any thinking, but often I try over and over to find the best one. Basically I think of music as film. Every song has its own landscape, colour, season, emotion and story. Each listener has one’s own imagination to enjoy the music differently from others, but I believe the music synchronises with the listener’s life unconsciously and moves their heart because of that power.”
You have worked with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio a few times. I know he is very keen not to have his fingerprints on the recording, and that he attempts to capture the true sound of the band. Do you feel he does this or do you think that there is something that Steve brings to the music that no one else can?
“Yes, he does bring something special to the music that no one else can. There are many great sound engineers in the world but there are not that many who can understand the band instantly and capture the originality on to the tape. Music is something you can’t describe in words, at least that’s how I think and that’s the most beautiful quality of music. I feel we are very fortunate to be able to leave our emotions in the music with Steve’s magic.”
What is the attraction to those moments where you build to loud dense music, almost violent music? Why does the band go there?
“Unrestrainable emotion, dream, miracle, wish…. our music reflects our daily life. There are a lot of troubles, issues, problems we have to face everyday like you do. We are fighting and trying to overcome the reality by writing music and playing together as a band.”
This interview was originally published in Inpress Victoria.
Bob Baker Fish
