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PO: Two new Mono LPs - The Last Dawn & Rays of Darkness


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The Last Dawn and Rays of Darkness are a pair of new albums by MONO. Recorded simultaneously yet conceptually and creatively disparate, the two act as both opposing and complementary sides to a story. No strangers to narratives, the twin albums explore familiar themes for the band: Hope and hopelessness, love and loss, immense joy and unspeakable pain. Those elemental parts of life and the complicated relationships they create have never been more resonant through MONO's music than they are here.

 

Out October 28 on Temporary Residence.

 

http://shop.temporaryresidence.com/trr242243

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Wow... sounds incredible. I'll never stop loving Hymn to the Immortal Winds. Hope it's more like that than For my Parents.

 

I agree.  I liked For My Parents ok, but I didn't love it and don't really revisit it.  Either way, I'm always happy with more Mono.  I wonder how many LPs this will be.

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Saw these advertised in the last Decibel. Descriptions from the ads are interesting.

 

The Last Dawn: "Soul stirring, speaker destroying brilliance."

Rays of Darkness: "This is their bleakest, blackest album ever."

 

Hope that means at least RoD will be stripped back and bombastic the way their older material was.

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Saw these advertised in the last Decibel. Descriptions from the ads are interesting.

 

The Last Dawn: "Soul stirring, speaker destroying brilliance."

Rays of Darkness: "This is their bleakest, blackest album ever."

 

Hope that means at least RoD will be stripped back and bombastic the way their older material was.

I'm extra sold based on those descriptions.

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I agree. I liked For My Parents ok, but I didn't love it and don't really revisit it. Either way, I'm always happy with more Mono. I wonder how many LPs this will be.

Find myself agreeing with your posts more than ever these days. But despite not swooning over FMP, I've recently come to (really) appreciate more than just Hymn lately. This new release sounds like it's got a ton of potential, and I will no doubt order without hesitation.

October confirmed for best month of new music, 2014.

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Available to order now. TRR is killing it lately.

 

The double album is either 500+ gone already or TRR is only distributing 500 of these and only 9 have been bought. Either way, still 491 remaining at this point.

 

Get on it.

 

http://shop.temporaryresidence.com/trr242

 

TRR242-243_ColoredVinyl_WEB.jpg

 

*Edit - Where We Begin reminds me of Explosions in the Sky a lot

 

I've also still yet to listen to For My Parents. I ordered it to my aunt's place who lives over the pond and she's yet to bring it over here with her. Been so long since that came out.

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or TRR is only distributing 500 of these and only 9 have been bought.

 

Definitely this.  I'm personally one of those 9, too, ha.

 

I really love the variants that TRL received, and feel like they go with that [incredible] album art very well.  But If you're looking for other options or feel like playing the variant game, you can try Pelagic.  Copies will run you $48-52 PPD vs. TRL's $33.  Not crazy about the limited marble, but that /350 is pretty sweet.

 

mono_preorder.jpg

 

When MONO began in 1999, they set out with a simple mission: From bliss to bludgeon, no matter how long or winding the path may be. Their debut album Under The Pipal Tree and subsequent albums would see the band honing their craft, mastering this mission, and ultimately abandoning that path in favor of more grandiose pursuits. Flanked by increasingly larger orchestras, MONO performed live at some of the most prestigious venues in New York City, London, Tokyo, and Australia. MONO had become an orchestral rock band, a spectacle of extreme melancholy and melodrama. By 2012's For My Parents, the band had finally reached the logical conclusion of that era; it was time to remember where they started, and to rethink where they were heading. Less strings? No strings? Louder? Quieter? Lighter? Darker? Yes.

The Last Dawn and Rays of Darkness are a pair of new albums by MONO. Recorded simultaneously yet conceptually and creatively disparate, the two act as both opposing and complementary sides to a story. No strangers to narratives, the twin albums explore familiar themes for the band: Hope and hopelessness, love and loss, immense joy and unspeakable pain. Those elemental parts of life and the complicated relationships they create have never been more resonant through MONO's music than they are here.

 

The Last Dawn is the first of these two companion albums, and is the "lighter" of the two, thematically and melodically. It contains undoubtedly some of MONO's strongest songs ever, drawing on an array of influences from minimalist film score to vintage shoegaze. It is MONO at their absolute purest, executing an uncanny, unspoken dialogue with each other without the dozens of stringed instruments that have been so prominent throughout their catalog in recent years. The songs are also noticeably more efficient - there hasn't been a MONO full-length record that fit on a single slab of vinyl since 2003's One Step More And You Die - and the album benefits immeasurably from this streamlined approach.

 

Rays of Darkness is the first MONO album in 15 years to feature no orchestral instruments whatsoever. That fact alone is remarkable given the band's reputation for sweeping, dramatic instrumentals that recall Oscar-worthy film scores. Instead, Rays of Darkness more closely resembles a jet engine taking off inside a small, crowded auditorium. It is MONO's blackest album ever, a collection of scorched riffs, doom rhythms, and an unexpected contribution from post-hardcore pioneer Tetsu Fukagawa of Envy. The album ends with the smoldering wreckage of distorted guitars and ominous drones playing out a eulogy to the days when MONO shot blinding rays of light through seemingly endless darkness.

 

scared-and-horny.gif

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They played one of the new, heavy songs when I saw them back in April, right after they had finished the writing sessions for these records. That thing was so killer. Like a Russian Circles or "Oceanic" ISIS. It was really surprising, but really incredible.

Ordered without hesitation.

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They played one of the new, heavy songs when I saw them back in April, right after they had finished the writing sessions for these records. That thing was so killer. Like a Russian Circles or "Oceanic" ISIS. It was really surprising, but really incredible.

Ordered without hesitation.

this description has me really excited. Ordering this when I get home.
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The double album is either 500+ gone already or TRR is only distributing 500 of these and only 9 have been bought. Either way, still 491 remaining at this point.

I've figured it out: they listed 500 of the bundle under each album. one had 470-something and the other had 480.

 

and yeah, $30 for the bundle:

 

 

SUPER DELUXE DIE-CUT GATEFOLD COLORED VINYL 2xLP EDITION: While supplies last, we are combining BOTH new MONO albums into one stunning package. Each album is in its own heavy board stock inner sleeve w/ gloss varnish, housed in a custom die-cut matte varnished gatefold jacket featuring the full 12x24-inch cover artwork by world-renowned artist, Pat Perry. As if that weren't enough, the vinyl are also custom colors designed to match the artwork: The Last Dawn disk is CLEAR w/ WHITE SMOKE STREAKS; the Rays of Darkness disk is CLEAR w/ BLACK SMOKE STREAKS. The colored vinyl is ONLY available in this special super deluxe edition. This is limited to a one-time-only numbered edition of 1,000 copies.

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