MONO formed in Tokyo, Japan in the closing winter weeks of December, 1999. They played their first live shows at the top of the new millennium, and released their first album, Under The Pipal Tree, in 2001. Recorded live in one day on a razor-thin budget, Pipal Tree was an earnest introduction to the curious magic of a band that would eventually become synonymous with monstrously dynamic, contemporary classical rock music.
To commemorate those austere beginnings – and celebrate their remarkable longevity – MONO revisit three of their earliest songs, and retrofit them with speaker-destroying upgrades. Anchored by the towering 16-minute noise opus, "Com(?)", Before The Past • Live From Electrical Audio shows the evolution of MONO’s execution, stripping away the strings and layers of guitar overdubs to show just how massive this band can be at their most instrumentally austere.
Newly recorded in one day in 2019 with longtime collaborator, Steve Albini – and mixed by Albini with Temporary Residence founder, Jeremy deVine – Before The Past is as much a declaration of the present as it is a document of the past. These songs, which are now 20 years old, feel more powerful and profound than ever – a testament to MONO’s enduring dedication to their craft, and their dogged exploration of maximum minimalism.
