With 2014’s Rays of Darkness, Goto found a means of channelling his unpleasant disposition. The album was a curdling of anxiety and aggression, turning the edges of Mono’s predominantly gracious and curvaceous compositions into shapes ravaged by punk and noise. Yet just as Godspeed’s most bleak and disastrous moments carried a faint glint of optimism, the other side of Mono’s double record was like a thin, brittle rope lowered into the mouth of hell. The Last Dawn saw a hopeful smile starting to quiver in the corner of Mono’s lips, not yet embracing a reversal of fortune, but at least
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