The Last Dawn / Rays of Darkness, Mono (2014)
Released on the same day, The Last Dawn and Rays of Darkness saw Mono exploring different styles, but nothing more than they had shown us previously.
The Last Dawn was similar to all the releases that preceded it, its chronic addiction to crescendos made manifest in post-rock arcs of guitar and extended periods of indistinctly pleasant piano. Despite the lack of orchestra (or maybe because of it), the music on this side is a bit more interesting a listen than For My Parents or Hymn to the Immortal Wind. Again, it’s only aggravating in terms of its lack of fresh directions explored, so it’s an easy listen for anyone who are desperate for this third phase of post-rock not to die out (by this point, most of its flagbearers have long deserted it).
The shorter Rays of Darkness is the better disc. The horns on ‘Surrender’ make for a sound that’s a bit different to Mono’s usual string arrangements while ‘Recoil, Ignite’ is far louder and more distorted, making for some of Mono’s loudest work since One Step More and You Die. Third track ‘The Hand That Holds the Truth’ includes vocals from Envy vocalist Tetsuya Fukagawa, proving something new to their sound, while the field-sampled, droning ‘The Last Rays’ is the album’s least interesting cut.
Neither The Last Dawn nor Rays of Darkness felt like half-baked efforts from Mono. Indeed, the concept of “light” and “dark” showed us something a bit fresh. However, ultimately neither came close to reviving the post-rock scene or injecting anything actually groundbreaking into the genre. Mono make music for Mono fans and not really anyone else, which is nice but also a blinkered way of making “experimental” music.
Pick: ‘The Land Between Tides / Glory’ and ‘Surrender’
