return to review menuMondo "Before the Fall"
format: album, released: 2004
review by Karl Mohr
Away from the pressure of a record label breathing down their necks, British band Mondo
have taken their own sweet time to produce their second album "Before The Fall" on their
own imprint, Moof Records. There is a true dedication to sound experimentation represented
here. As an instrumental album of guitar-based soundscapes and slow unfolding energies
this record wakes some serious waves. The instrument recording, production, final mix
and packaging - the Moof moniker: "You can record a perfectly good album on that" -
whatever machine it is they used, it worked.
The opening "Slowstar" is very intense - a track that slowly builds from David Lynchian
atmospherics up to a huge guitar drive with flashing synthesizers and effects, even ends
with a Dr. Rhythm drum machine. Is this Sonic Youth or something different? To my mind,
there are things here in the sunlit spaces that are larger than the guitar clashes.
After the opener, we are introduced again to Jason Temple. Here's where the camps
will divide. It's all about the frontperson, isn't it? There's no reason not to like him.
Solid lyrics, fairly strong melodies, he integrates nicely with the tone of the band,
Jason has definitely found his own sound apart from Thom Yorke, and he does some
excellent gentle falsetto back-ups on this record. His particular vocal presence and
the level of maudlin it adds to the mix is perhaps unnecessary. Most of the emotions
the band captures are not necessarily affected by his lyrics, and so I feel that this
band might stand perfectly upright without sung lyrics. Where his voice is used as an
instrument, there is tremendous success. In "Avoid The Void" there is a fabulous climax
toward the end; the voice adds to this although it doesn't really seem to matter what he's
singing. Same deal with the fish-tank-ambient "Space To Breathe". I'm convinced that some
people will love the lyrics and the Pumpkinseque delivery, and some people won't like it
at all. However, with this caveat in mind, this is certainly major label material and should
enjoy a large public.
Nic Lloyd's drumming, and whoever recorded the kit, both did a fabulous job - I could
easily sit back and enjoy listening to the drum premix of this album on its own. There
are some clever percussion tricks on the record too - check out the precious use of
handclaps on "Avoid The Void" and distant cymbal scrapes on "Before The Fall". I await
the Nic Lloyd sample CD collection.
Their own literature hints towards their live presence, which is most certainly a
mindblow. The warmth and intimacy of this record suggests an incredibly intense rock
show. In terms of the record - definitely a summer record, a driving record, a road
trip record - it is deeply inviting.
Tiny touches of mandolin, synth loops and sequences, well-balanced doses of noise and
effects to set off the smooth, yummy art rock - the production is rife with ear candy,
but also artifacts: clicks, pops, distortion and noise. Not a record for hi-fi nuts, and
very obviously mastered to leave some of the edge in. This is a very well produced album.
Mondo are evidently detail-oriented and it's the small things on this album that stand out
so brilliantly (including the bad, and famous, vinyl plug-in on "Big Seven").
It could be said that Mondo is a band of dualism. In a way, they have preserved the
grunge mentality of the early 1990s with an insistence on exhibiting both hard and soft
moods in the same song. They smear this fact with amazing production and sly transitions,
but still it remains in the writing - and does seem a little bit formulaic. The other
way of saying this: there is incredible dynamic range on this record, from blissful
slow gentle plodding to huge mountains of emotion. "But shit, it's just a band after all."
It does seem to be up for debate how epic this band is willing to be. Their positioning
between epic, lo-fi, edge-rock ("Something Else") and ambient - this is definitely mowing
Radiohead's grass. Mondo are growing in their own direction and show signs of massive
potential, so they don't need these crutches anymore. In light of the majority of delicious
slow-groove spaces on the record, it almost seems a shame to include the heavy/loud tracks.
The many emotional spaces leave the listener feeling a little manipulated, à la Hollywood.
Listeners may need a second record after this one is finished to get their moods on straight
and to take the hard trip back to reality.
Standout tracks: the epic slow ones: "Avoid The Void", "Spare Parts", "This Is All Wrong"
"Las Luces", "Space To Breathe".