DVDs: Mono Issue #35

The Sky Remains the Same As Ever (Temporary Residence)

By Katerina Herodotou
Published: March 1st, 2008 | 3:01pm

Japanese band MONO are sonic engineers and excellent headbangers. Their outstanding crescendos and breakdowns have been pushing the avant envelope for American fans since 1999, picking up indie legend Steve Albini as a collaborator along the way. The Sky Remains the Same as Ever is their label Temporary Residence's visual offering to the innovative sound. A two-hour documentary of the tours that followed the recording of You Are There, it's unpretentious and simple. Splicing color-drenched concert footage in hazes of blue, purple, and overbearing black and white, the band doesn't acknowledge the camera at all. Of course, they're busy concentrating on building a symphony of brutal sound.

There is a lot of hair in this documentary, as to be expected, but the jabbing camerawork is not only dizzying, it's annoying. Amateur at best, we see too many shots of the crowd intently nodding, bright stage lights blinding the viewer, and back-and-forth action between members that cuts up the continuity of songs. We also don't need to zoom-in on teenage concertgoers plugging up their ears — anyone buying a MONO DVD will expect noise and distortion. The camera never stops moving but it's not steady-handed, as lightheadedness sets in after 20 minutes of viewing. Then there is the odd interview audio superimposed during a scene of the band playing, during which no information is given as to who is talking and what the context is. When the film spends a minute outside of the concert venue, simply circling the area with no sound of the band, it gets unbearable. MONO loads equipment, signs autographs, waits to board a flight, and, oh, there are some leaves blowing in the wind and some ocean waves in between.

Hardly a voice to be heard in The Sky Remains the Same As Ever, the music is gorgeous but the film frustrating. Instead of showing the architecture of MONO’s sound — the building of riff atop riff, each pluck of guitar and hit of the drum piling on top of each other — it's a stop-and-go of show footage and minimal scenes from the van. Still, I love to see a woman rock out onstage.