MONO

SUPER PRESENTE : MONO

The Tokyo, Japan-based 4-piece instrumental rock band MONO was originally formed in 1999. Their original style of fusingrock and classical music has received worldwide acclaim as a new form of deeply moving music—one that evokes theemotions and imagery hidden deep within the listener’s heart: joy and sorrow, light and darkness, life and death. As BritishMusical Magazine NME once stated, “this is music for the Gods”.

Over the first decade, MONO rapidly established a well-acclaimed status, especially with their live performances. Through theirannual world tour consisting of around 150 shows, visiting now over 60 countries, both critics and fans of Rock music agreetheir sheer euphoric, dynamic resonance of performance makes MONO one of the best live bands in existence.

A particularly monumental early live memory was a special set of 10th anniversary shows, held with an orchestra, in New York,Tokyo, London and Melbourne; which was later immortalised as the live album “Holy Ground”. MONO now proudly holds thetitle of being one of the most internationally successful bands in Japan. For the respective anniversary show in Tokyo, they alsohad the pleasure of collaborating with NHK Symphony Orchestra master Fuminori Shinozaki.

Outside of the studio and live music, MONO has also made its name as a film score composer. After releasing 10 successfulalbums including a live album with an orchestra, the band received the highly regarded award The Marshall Hawkins Awards:Best Musical Score - Featurette from the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema for their collaborative short film “Where WeBegin” in 2015, and the band was also nominated for Ariel Award for Best Original Music Score for the feature film “The 4thCompany” which was released in 2016. In addition, the band handled the music for such media work as the feature film “AllGod’s Children Can Dance” written by Haruki Murakami, the original TV drama “Kanata No Ko” by Japan’s leadingbroadcasting network WOWOW, the feature film “Real Onigokko” written and directed by Sion Sono, and more.

In 2018, MONO began a new journey. After welcoming the new drummer Dahm, the band started to prepare for their seconddecade’s celebration and during this time, they received a special invitation to be one of the headliners of London’s MeltdownFestival, personally requested by the 2018’s curator Robert Smith of The Cure; an unforgettable gesture and honour for theband, from one of the band’s long-time inspirations. The stage was then shared with artists such as My Bloody Valentine, NineInch Nails, Mogwai and Deftones.

The band’s 20th anniversary was welcomed the following year. To commemorate this occasion, the 10th album “Nowhere NowHere” was released alongside a year-long world tour, consisting of 4 special orchestra shows in New York, Chicago, LosAngeles and London, ending in March 2020. One of the orchestra shows, held at the historic Barbican Hall in London,performed to a rapt sold-out audience of 2,000, was once again immortalised as a live album “Beyond the Past” which chartedat #2 on Billboard’s Classical Crossover Albums in the US.

Now, MONO enters the third decade. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the band starts production for anew album with one of the band’s longtime partners Steve Albini. The 11th new album, entitled “Pilgrimage of the Soul”, wasreleased in September of the following year, which charted at #85 on Billboard’s General Album Sales in the US for the firsttime, and also charted #2 on Alternative New Artist Albums.

In 2022, the band starts on a new soundtrack work for the documentary film “My Story, the Buraku Story”, directed by YusakuMitsuwaka. After nationwide premieres the same year, the film was awarded first place in the Cultural Film Award at the 96thKinema Junpo Best Ten.2024 marks the 25th anniversary of MONO. To celebrate this occasion, the band released their 12th album "OATH" on June 14and toured 16 countries—France, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, HongKong, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Japan and the United States—with an orchestra from October toDecember. Some footage from the New York show was later broadcast by the Japanese TV network NHK on the programme"Catch! World's Top News", featuring exclusive interviews, in January 2025.

In September 2025, MONO returned to Electrical Audio to record their 13th album, "Snowdrop". Following the tragic loss oftheir long-time friend and producer Steve Albini, the band collaborated with producer Brad Wood to honour Albini's legacy whilenavigating a new creative chapter. Transitioning from profound grief to an extraordinary air of gratitude, "Snowdrop" serves as atestament to the band's resilience, turning shock and