Live music review: Japan’s Mono delivered first performance in the new Parish last week
Lauded post-rockers, Japan’s Mono played the first official live music performance at the new The Parish venue which had a soft opening over the weekend with Mono on Saturday and prog rock act, Battles filling the recently renovated room Sunday evening.
The latest version of The Parish has taken over the previous spot occupied by The North Door for years at 501 Brushy near downtown. While still a work in progress, the improvements to the space are clear and obvious like a a new sound and lighting system that is superior to what the venue used to offer.
Operated by Resound Presents (by the folks who brought us Margin Walker Presents, Transmission Presents and Fun Fun Fun Fest), the group partnered with Steve Sternschein (Empire Control Room and Garage) who purchased the venue pre-pandemic, then had a run-in with the landlord resulting in the move off Dirty Sixth Street to it’s current location in rapidly, gentrifying East Austin.
But that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to discuss the bombastic performance delivered by Mono complete with latest member, drummer Dahm Majuri Cipolla who is the first American member of a band that has been touring world wide for over 20 years. This was the first opportunity we had to see him play with the vaunted orchestral post-rock band. The man delivered the goods as did legendary Mono guitarist, Taka and the rest of the band who played a nine-song set list including the encore for a sold-out crowd of fans paying rapt attention to the concert.
Frankly, from the point of view of honoring the space which traditionally hosted art-related events in addition to live music, it was nice to see the new Parish owners getting on board with that albeit with their own, hip twist to booking. It was in fact, at The Mohawk (where Transmission booked a ton of shows) almost 15 years ago where I first saw Taka and company blow minds with their post-rock approach to orchestral arrangements that produce powerful emotional response.
Opening track, “Riptide” did, indeed pull us all out to sea to be thrown against the proverbial rocks of sonic textures and loudness. The track also served to highlight their new drummer’s skill and dexterity, quickly putting aside any doubts longtime fans might have had about Cipolla’s ability to fill the void left by founding drummer, Yasunori Takada who left for “personal reasons” in 2018. The two guitarists seated on either side of bassist, Tamaki Kunishi generated an incredible amount of distortion, creating a “wall of sound” effect that was magnified by the exceptional sound system and lighting the new owners installed.
Other set highlights included exquisite set closer, “Hold Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand” followed by the quickest set break to encore in history and crowd-pleaser, “Ashes in the Snow” that got cheers at the opening bars of the song.
Midway through their North American tour, you can catch Mono on their current run by checking the official tour schedule and grabbing yourself some tickets. The tour continues on the West Coast with a date this evening at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles.
All photos Michael Maly
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