ALBUM REVIEW: Nowhere Now Here – MONO

For the last two decades, Japanese instrumentalists MONO have been encapsulating audiences with their expansive post-metal across nine albums and utilising an ever-increasing roster of instruments as they’ve gone. Nowhere Now Here, studio album number ten due out at the end of the month via Pelagic Records is no exception to this, with the quartet experimenting with electronics across the hour-long record. This isn’t the biggest change, however, as MONO have had a lineup shift for the first time in their history; Dahm Majuri Cipolla comes on board alongside the nucleus of Taka Goto, Tamaki Kunishi and Yoda Suematsu as the band’s new drummer, replacing Yasunori Takada.

There’s more; in true clickbait style, track three of Nowhere Now Here will shock you as Kunishi makes her vocal debut on Breathe, adding a haunting overture in English to a foreboding, synth that would have Angelo Badalamenti rubbing his hands with glee. As the song progresses, it gradually becomes more brooding and beautiful, a trait that is indicative of the album as a whole. Some works released this year will be described as the most aggressive, the heaviest, the angriest and the most accomplished; Nowhere Now Here is an early frontrunner for the most relaxing, as the likes of Sorrow and the sprawling, ten minute title track, the jewel in the crown, will soothe even the most stressful of minds and allow the listener to drift away to another plane of reality entirely, completely absorbed in the music and for a short while oblivious to the demands of the world.

Elsewhere, the mournful trumpets on opening prologue God Bless are mimicked on the later track Funeral Song, a poignant reflection on the circular nature life can take and this morphs into Vanishing, Vanishing Maybe, which brings the album to a close and slinks away into the night on a wing and a prayer; a fitting conclusion to Nowhere Now Here as reality comes into focus once more.

Along with the quiet comes the chaotic, however, and for all that Nowhere Now Here will send you off to the Land of Nod, it also has the capability to pull you in all directions. MONO are no strangers to this – they’ve spent their whole career highlighting both the quietest and most manic parts of life through their music – and the pounding talents of new boy Cipolla come into their own on After You Comes the Flood, a somewhat appropriate title as it follows the aforementioned God Bless and brings the energy up a few notches, as if the doors had been opened on Hell itself and the demons were making their escape.

There’s less of these incidents than the more tranquil side of MONO’s output, but the epic Meet Us Where The Night Ends anchors the back end of the record superbly, building in body and layers as it progresses and finishing with a cacophony of noise and ambience that dance in complete harmony. As is expected, the musicianship is second to none: Goto, Suematsu and Kunishi have the most wonderful chemistry, which is expressed in its fullness on all the output MONO have given the world, and this is no exception.

In Nowhere Now Here, MONO have surpassed themselves immeasurably. This is a gorgeous, detailed album full of twists and turns and promises to be a true experience for anyone who wishes to give it a spin. There won’t be many records released in 2019 that will stand up to the composition and dexterity than this, and on that front alone MONO deserve every commendation that comes their way.

Rating: 9/10

Nowhere Now Here is set for release January 25th via Pelagic Records. 

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