From their upcoming album Requiem For Hell.

Japanese post-rock greats MONO have unleashed the first single from their upcoming ninth album. ‘Ely’s Heartbeat’ marks the band’s reunion with longtime producer Steve Albini, who last appeared on 2009’s Hymn To Immortal Wind. Though the track builds to the sort of awe inspiring peak we’ve come to expect from the best post-rock bands, its most affecting moment comes in the very literal infancy of the track.

True to the title, ‘Ely’s Heartbeat’ begins on the faint heartbeat of a close friend of the band’s child still in utero. It’s an arresting moment that makes the track much more than just waiting around for the loud part. Of course ‘Ely’ does get very loud over its eight-minute run, but it feels earned, granting the sort of catharsis many groups in this genre may have the technical chops, but not the heart, for. MONO have plenty of both, and in the case of ‘Ely’ it’s in more ways than one.

Requiem For Hell is out October 14 via Temporary Residence.

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