MONO
Snowdrop (Temporary Residence)
Like The Twilight Sad’s It’s The Long Goodbye, Mono’s 13th album is a coming to terms with a death in the family. Steve Albini may not have been a blood relation, but the Japanese band’s friend and producer was as good as.
In many ways, the album’s title is perfectly chosen, suiting the specific circumstances and encapsulating Mono’s general modus operandi. Snowdrops symbolise beauty, elegance and fragility but also hang their heads as though weighed down by a heavy burden. What’s more, they flower in the winter but herald the first stirrings of spring.
But there the analogy breaks down because Snowdrop’s grandiose instrumentals offer few glimpses of anything fresh or new. The title track delivers an undeniable thrill when the guitars crash in, but overall this is well-trodden turf for a band who pointedly reject the ‘post-rock’ tag in interviews while enthusiastically embracing all of the genre’s core signifiers. Gerbera is the standout, but perhaps primarily because it could have been written to order for salivating ad execs in need of soundtrack material.
words BEN WOOLHEAD
