Temporary Residence
2006
You Are There
About This Album
Japanese power quartet Mono return with a fifth album, and their fourth for Temporary Residence. You Are There, engineered and mixed by Steve Albini, picks up the formula where he and the band left off on Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined. Much has been made of Mono's engagement and deployment of dynamics. While it's true that earlier recordings paid homage to the band's collective heroes and influences, Mono have increasingly carved out their own terrain in composition, recording, and performance. You Are There is comprised of six pieces. They range in duration from just under four minutes to over 15. "The Flames Beyond Cold Mountain" begins quietly yet forbiddingly with rounded, hushed guitars playing in droned harmony. Sustained, rounded tones are joined by what sounds like voices, sparsely registering before a single guitar states a skeletal melody above the whispering din, establishing tension gradually, repetitively. Another six-string joins in, cymbals shimmer, a bass plays a simple droned line to signify the chord changes. As the tom toms enter gradually, the melodic invention becomes more pronounced. There is texture, ambience; silence in the slowly decreasing space.
Track List (try tracks 2 and 5)

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