Search - Mono & World's End Girlfriend :: Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain

Why....

Jason | CaLiFoRNIA | 07/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...does this album have two reviews? Two. Two. Hmmm. Two.



Why does that upset -- nay, sadden -- me? Probably because 'Palmless Prayer' is, no joke, one of the most beautiful compositions I've ever heard. Really.



Two reviews... goodness. I will say, however, the only reason I sought out this album was because I heard someone else declare it to be levels above one of my most beloved bands -- Canadian post-rock 'Godspeed! You Black Emperor!'; the spite that immediately exerted itself, simply from another being putting 'Godspeed!' (qualitatively) at a lower level than any other particular musical force, was enough for me to seek out this music immediately... and so I did.



...and this guy knew what he was talking about, at least in part. No -- I will not be so bold as to praise 'Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain' an entity towering above the works of 'Godspeed! You Black Emperor'... no, I cannot do that, because, to my ears, it is not of a higher level. That said, I am both surprised and excited in being able to tout the album as reaching the same general level of greatness, because that greatness, in my experience, is not reached very often.



There are various reasons this music is haunting, but perhaps the most demanding virtue is its sense of drama; not often have I heard such sadness echoed in the form of music. At first, the sound was so unrelenting I had to take a giant step back, and proceeded to observe with skepticism, for anything this morose can so easily come off as narcissistic or, similarly, containing a mild amount of pretense. Yet, with further listens, it was obvious -- behind the seemingly 'artsy' surface, there is a permeating heart that, for me, breathes the most loving, sensitive of breaths... As a painfully somber cello segways into the angelic, minimilist notes that conclude "Trailer, 2", I sit in mere awe... Often, yes, I prefer to use words like "angelic" because they provide a powerful sentiment to anyone reading it, but admittedly I like to, at times, pull words out of the hat just to garnish attention (I want all good music to be heard!). In this case, words like angelic couldn't be more appropriate or sincere.



What's more, is that this composition really doesn't feel all that FRESH, so to speak; the more celestial sections recall ambient-master Brian Eno, the use of strings familiar to those exposed to a good deal of film music (the yearning of Tan Dun's 'Crouching Tiger'). "Trailer, 4", possibly my favorite of the elegies to be found here, is haunting and unforgettable [really]; its use of boy soprano absolutely pristine, drenched in a seriousness I rarely hear in any form of contemporary music; referring again to film (which, as the "trailer" titles in the tracks might indicate, the album has much parallels with), 'Mono/World's End Girlfriend''s use of vocals in this particular track remind me of the brilliant, (post?)modern classical/film composer Elliot Goldenthal (his works for 'Alien 3', 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, 'Michael Collins', etc.)... I.E., the guys' here are utilizing a formula that has existed before, but they lace it with such authenticity and deep emotion that its familiarity comes with grace and gratitude.



I'm about to check out both of these bands' other works; looks like they reside in the "post-rock" world, as far as vague categorizations go. Knowing this, 'Palmless Prayer' feels only slightly post-rock; it's too serious, too direct, and simply too draining to be compared to stuff like 'Explosions in the Sky' or 'Sigur Ros'. The sheer melancholy within compares with the best of 'Mogwai' and 'Godspeed!', and probably the most apt comparison to be made would be with 'Godspeed!''s run-off band, 'A Silver Mt. Zion', primarily because both flow to a slower tempo, provide more orchestral instrumentation opposed to guitar/bass/drums (piano/strings/soundscapes largely in place of), and on a very basic, real level, are simply more powerful.



Like 'A Silver Mt. Zion', one should probably tread lightly if they're not accustomed to such moods. It's all interpretive, of course; I have no question many would simply turn off the music after hearing it for a few moments -- "boring", a very likely response. Thus, or at least for me, it's a matter of willing the imagination to feel the pain endowed in the music, but never forgetting that birthed from this pain is a rapture of beauty too evocative, brimming with a hope that is hard to penetrate without first knowing the contrasting darkness.

"

Nothing short of gorgeous

Aquarius Records | San Francisco | 09/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow. This collaboration between Japanese epic art rockers Mono and their equally arty countrymen World's End Girlfriend is nothing short of gorgeous. Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain is an absolutely breathtaking five-part mood piece that enshrouds the listener in looming desolate shadows cast by classically composed guitar, strings, piano, saxophone and even a fleeting vocal chorus. A staggeringly moving work definitely for fans of Godspeed You Black Mogwai or anyone else looking to have their jaw dropped by some seriously bleak beauty."

One of the Best Albums I Heard In 2007...

Example: Mark Twain | 11/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...although this was released in 2006, is MONO & world's end girlfriend's gorgeous Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain, a five-part chamber music suite, as it were, for string quartet and post-rock band. A collaboration between Japanese composer Katsuhiko Maeda and the thunderous Tokyo quartet that is MONO, the album is surely going to be one of my favorites of the year.



Doubtless a lot of music fans more knowledgeable than I would point to music from a different tradition--say, Shostakovich, Pärt, or Gorecki--as more complex, more profoundly moving. But the difference is that MONO rocks: the moment in "Part Three" when MONO's Mogwai-influenced wall of guitar comes crashing down on the orchestra is a cathartic sonic event, only made more poignant by the calm resignation of the finale.



It's hard to describe the widescreen sorrow at the core of this music. It's something as mundane as the inherent loneliness of automobiles stranded on the freeway at sunset. But the ineffable grandeur it evokes is not just exit music for a film, it's Exit Music for real: ruined cities, a threnody for the broken earth, the dying sun's last defiant flare before the beginning of a cold, dead universe. Or as C.K. Williams puts it in his poem "Light," "...everything ends, / world, after-world, even their memory, steamed away / like the film of uncertain vapor of the last of the luscious rain.""