Album Focus: Mono

Generally, you've released albums every few years at a pretty steady pace, yet decided to release the two companion albums – The Last Dawn and Rays Of Darkness – concurrently. What was the reason for that, and how separate do you consider the material to be?

The two albums ended up representing the counter points in life. Light and darkness, hope and hopelessness, love and loss. the emotions which can’t be expressed; pain which you can’t put into words; happiness which you can’t simply measure. We also at the same time felt and hoped that they could be something to exceed the darkness.

This time, we wanted to just leave the chaotic ones as chaotic as possible and make the positive ones as positive as possible. The reason for this is because we started to feel that even when you feel everything is in disorder, there is something that’s always in order. Without thinking about it, we gradually started to accept the chaos as an order/thoughts wrapped in negativity that is darkness. We really wanted to express that to the world as art.

Was it a tough decision to forgo the orchestral elements for Rays Of Darkness and try a heavier, more distorted sound? How did you reach that decision?

I originally wanted to create something original, symphonic and spiritual like Beethoven but with electric guitars. So far, we managed to experience so many things, more than any indie band can ask for, like playing with full orchestra in New York, London, Australia and Tokyo. From these experiences, we tried something more complex and classical for our previous album, For My Parents, but at the same time, we started to raise some concerns. During the album’s American tour, we started to feel as our sounds were like a spineless dinosaur comparing to our old sounds. Sure, symphonic music is loud, epic and dreamy, but there is something lacking compare to rock music, like the pressure and destruction they can bring.

We originally started off as a four-piece, and even though our concerns started to rise much earlier, we just took them as a required risk to challenge something new. But as we toured more, we started to know for certain that our feelings were right. 

Going back to the original root was an easy thing to do, but also, we all didn’t want to do what we have already done. I really thought about this a lot.  I needed to find a  new method that could show my current emotions, and I truly believed that will allow us to see a new world. 

What's the first thing you do when you decide you want to start piecing together a new song?

I make the demo at first, and tell the members what the story explains.

Do you compose music wanting to convey a particular emotion or feeling, and does it matter whether that comes across to the listener, or would you prefer them to develop their own meaning?

Our songs have many spaces which people can image through each their life. 

I think music is a very special gift given to us to tell a story or show something that you can’t simply describe with words. Sure, it might sound arrogant but as a composer, I write music that would save me, and also allows me to think and look for the meaning of life. And from that, I also hope to give the strength to continue and live to other people in the world.

In a live setting, what goes through your head as your play through your lengthier riffs?

While playing live, I play how I feel from the soundscapes above my head. Live performances are in real time, so I won’t feel and perform necessarily the same way every time, but we try to get close to the core emotion of every song between four of us. 

Over your career, has your position on the way you view your older material, and what it means to you, changed at all?

Every time we release an album, we always want to release something new and unique to the world. we’re constantly on a search for new possibilities. We tackle them over and over, find the emotions we want to express and something that we can link with. 

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Watching films and hang out with friends.

Are you working on anything new at the moment?

We have the plan to record and release our new album next year, we’ve already finished composing the songs.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine