Posts Tagged ‘Japan’

Watch: ‘Gerbera’ by MONO

Posted: 13 May 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Japanese post-rock legends MONO recently announced details on their new album Snowdrop set for release on 12th June via Temporary Residence. This is the band’s first album made with Brad Wood (Touché Amore, The Smashing Pumpkins), following the passing of longtime collaborator and friend, Steve Albini.

Taken from MONO’s 13th album Snowdrop, scheduled for release on 12th June 2026 (Temporary Residence), a new single ‘Gerbera’ is out now with an accompanying music video.

For Snowdrop, the band wishes to express their eternal gratitude to those precious people who have walked alongside them on their journey of life, by incorporating the messages imbued in flowers given to those who have passed into the song titles on the album.

MONO’s Statement:

“The language of flowers for the Gerbera is ‘faithful love’ and ‘cheerfulness’. The countless, precious memories I share with you will never be forgotten. I am so glad that I met you. Innocence, purity, joy, beauty—and I will never forget your smile.”

Yusaku Mitsuwaka, ‘Gerbera’ Director:

“During the shoot, the wind swayed the silver grass wildly, resonating with the band’s performance and blowing through as if it were music itself. Guided by the wind, the camera danced, and ‘Gerbera’ became a music video brimming with vitality. Even in today’s fractured world, the act of loving and being loved remains unchanging. I hope this wind reaches the heavens. I would like you to watch this while thinking of someone dear to you.”

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“Without exception, everyone will eventually depart this world and face the parting from their loved ones. Through this album, we wished to express our "eternal gratitude" to those precious people who walked alongside us on the journey of life. We believe this sentiment is the only thing capable of filling the void left in our hearts and easing the profound sorrow and pain of loss. Every flower carries its own unique language. For this album, we incorporated the messages imbued in flowers given to those who have passed into the titles of our songs. Our hope is that this album serves as a source of light and hope for those who have lost someone dear.” – MONO

When MONO recorded their previous album, OATH, with longtime production partner and friend, Steve Albini in 2023, they never fathomed that it would be the final studio album they made together. Albini tragically died the following year, and that loss left an incalculable void in the lives of not just everyone who ever knew Steve, but everyone with an attachment to any of the thousands of records he helped bring into world over the past four decades. He brought a clarity to the chaos, and a selfless sense of service to art and artists that was unrivalled. On both a personal and practical level, the loss left MONO faced with profound grief and uncertainty. Albini had become a fundamental part of MONO’s unmistakable sound, and the thought of replacing him was daunting, to say the least. Enter: Brad Wood(Touché Amoré, The Smashing Pumpkins).

Chosen for both his familiarity with MONO’s creative and technical working process – as well as his decades-long friendship with Steve Albini – Brad Wood entered Albini’s storied Electrical Audio studios in September 2025 to record what would become Snowdrop. Once again working with Chicago-based conductor and orchestral musical director, Chad McCullough, MONO enlisted a 10-piece orchestra as well as an 8-piece choir for the eight massive pieces that make up Snowdrop. With the band performing and Wood recording in the same hallowed space where most of MONO’s records had been made in their quarter-century history, the songs on Snowdrop carry an extra weight. Mixed by Wood at his Seagrass home studio in Los Angeles, the album is equally intimate and enveloping.

Where there could easily be a pall hanging over Snowdrop, there is instead an extraordinary air of gratitude. Rather than steep in heartache, there is a poignant appreciation for the resonance of life well-spent with a dear friend – and the yearning for what may come. Snowdrop is the sound of a band turning shock and sadness into hope and wonder – and finding renewed focus in the freedom of unknowing.

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MONO

Photo by Carlos Cruz courtesy of KEXP

Various Artists – The Covid Version Sessions EP

Posted: 1 March 2021 in Singles and EPs
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Fierce Panda Records – 24th February 2021

Here we are: it’s the end of February 2021, and COVID-19 isn’t still a thing, but just a few weeks short of a year after the first lockdown was announced here in the UK, it’s pretty much the only thing, and it dominates and dictates our lives in ways we could never have predicted back then – or, arguably, even in September, or at Christmas.

In a time when the music industry isn’t as much in crisis as halfway on its knees and wondering what the actual fuck to do while touring remains off-limits both home and away on account of the pandemic and Brexit meaning the future of the foundations of musicians’ livelihoods is in question, while at the same time the debate over the equity of streaming services for artists has stepped up several notches, the need for an indie label like Fierce Panda seems even more vital. They’ve never gone with the grain and have continued to carve their own niche, focusing on single and EP releases.

The Covid Version Sessions EP is a classic case in point: bringing together a selection of artists you probably haven’t heard of alongside a selection you really ought to have even if you haven’t, it showcases six standalone cover (Covid) version (boom boom) releases, recorded during the pandemic by acts striving to find ways of working together while apart or otherwise unable to operate as normal.

It’s an eclectic mix, with some interesting takes on some well-selected tunes. While we’ve already given praise to National Service’s stripped back, haunting take on The Twilight Sad’s ‘Last January’ (released this January), it’s Moon Panda’s slick, sultry jazz-tinged cover of ‘Call it Fate Call it Karma’ by The Strokes that raises the curtain on the EP. It captures the essence of the original, but somehow manages to sound more authentic, perhaps because of the lack of self-consciously ‘retro’ production.

I’ve long had a soft spot for Pulp’s This is Hardcore album, not least of all because of the admiration inspired by their apparent commercial suicide in following one of the biggest albums of the Britpop era with such a desperately dark pop record. But also, because it has so much more depth and resonance. Desperate Journalist have an ear for drama, so their covering ‘The Fear’ is pretty much faultless: again, it’s a straight rendition, but magnificently executed. The same is true of Jekyll’s rendition of Japan’s ‘Nightporter’, which captures the understated, brooding theatrics of the original.

After Johnny Cash, is there any point on covering ‘Hurt’ by Nine Inch Nails’? Ghost Suns arguably step back closer to the original with electronic instrumentation, and in fact swing more to the other side, landing in ambient / synthwave territory. It’s not as good as Cash, and nor is it a good as the original, but then, it was a hugely ambitious undertaking and yes, it stull brings a lump to the throat – because it seems no matter what spin you put on this song, it is a classic that can’t be contained or twisted to be anything other than a blow directly against the heart.

The Covid Version Sessions may not offer much cheer: in fact they’re draped with sadness and remind us of all we don’t have – but they also remind us that we’re not alone in being alone, that it’s ok not to be ok, and that sometimes, the solution is to just take some time out, listen to some haunting melodies and remember that tomorrow is another day, and that for better or worse, nothing is forever.