Search - Mono :: Under the Pipal Tree

Not the UK band

Steven Moore | Ann Arbor, MI USA | 01/17/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Just to avoid confusion, this is not the UK band that released "Formica Blues" a few years ago but a Japanese instrumental band. (I haven't heard the CD, but it's on John Zorn's label so it's probably cool.) The UK Mono's singer Siobhan De Mare is now in a band called Violet Indiana (with former Cocteau Twins Robin Guthrie), which you should certainly check out if you miss Mono."

Washed out Psychedelia and Luscious Kitten Drip

christopher eaton | Oberlin, OH | 01/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, a good deal of the praise for Mono's debut (?) effort, Under the Pipal Tree, should go to Tzadik label owner John Zorn. I don't have any idea how involved he is as a producer, but I do know that the packaging, liner notes, art and information provided for all the recordings Tzadik puts out are first-rate. Zorn also provides the great social service of supporting young and undervalued experimental musicians and making their voices heard.That said, Under the Pipal Tree is an arcing, melancholy haunting of an album. Their Tzadik press write-up names artistic influences Sonic Youth, John Fahey and the Grateful Dead. My overall impression of the record was definitely akin to hearing Sonic Youth at their most psychedelic. But when Sonic Youth decides to hit that brick wall, Mono softens the edges, blurs the lines. The result is just as emotionally engaging, but instead of youthful catharsis, it is more like artful wilting in oblivion. There is evidence of technical talent that I don't immediately equate with Sonic Youth: check out the crazy time changes on 'Of Beach.' Also, that track's extreme slowness suggests the otherwordly noir of late guitarist John Fahey's work, from his spaced-out acoustic dirges to his later experiments with electric tonality. The entire album's psychedelia definitely suggests some sort of mutation of those Dead-like qualities of transcendent structure and epiphanies. It is updated, however, to a newer, 2002 socially-aware (i.e. not primarily drug-based) transcendent quality. The hopeful whispers through bleak delivery" technique of songs like 'L''America'are more reminiscent of postmodern idealists Godspeed You Black Emperor and spin-off band A Silver Mt. Zion than, say, 'China Cat Sunflower.' In its own, the record captures some sort of primal condition. You can hear the rush and excitement behind the tidal swell. The breathing underneath the lush guitar work and precise drumming. The way it washes over you like a laundromat. Mono create seamless textural landscapes that lull you to a sleep infested with the vespertine. The black bulb of the washer on the spin cycle. Dig?

What have we learned from this record? That post-rock, though sometimes cheesy, is one of the newer genres of music that is actually experiencing any sort of innovation. Pick up Mono's Under the Pipal Tree and spend a night at home thinking about your old girlfriends and eating Chinese food. It's better than any Radiohead album, but that said, I really don't like them."

Auspicious Debut

Nathan B. Hyatt | San Francisco | 05/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mono have grown with each release, but their first album is also amazing. You must appreciate subtlety and silence, as well as brazen volume and guts spilling out onto the pavement. Some of the songs are simple, speaking from a purely theoretical point of view (ie, two chords, back and forth), but the effect is hypnotic and luminous. Gorgeous music, emotional as your first heartbreak, and for fans of the wailing guitar. In many ways, Japan's Mono make better American Psychedelia than any American band, taking the pioneers like Jimi Hendrix to absurd extremes. The drummer is absolutely amazing; his placement of the kickdrum is at times genius; you never thought a drumbeat could be so sad, but when the kick comes in on the second track, you really feel it; right here. And right there. Yes, silence is a large part of Mono; they will drop the volume down to inaudible for a while before kicking it back up; it's part of the yin and the yang, don't you know? In the end, this music is about growth and dynamics, in other words Change. It's not about making you feel good about your current state; it's about making you long for something Other. Now go and find It."