Mono, often stylized as MONO, are a Japanese instrumental rock band, formed in 1999 in Tokyo, Kantō, Honshū. The band consists of Takaakira Goto (electric guitar, glockenspiel), Yoda (electric guitar, glockenspiel), Tamaki Kunishi (bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, glockenspiel), and Yasunori Takada (drum kit, glockenspiel, synthesizer). Mono have released five studio albums. The band spent their early years, from 1999 to 2003, touring Asia, Europe, and America continuously, and released two studio albums, Under the Pipal Tree (2001) and One Step More and You Die (2002) on the Tzadik and Music Mine Inc. record labels, respectively. From 2004 to 2007, Mono signed to Temporary Residence Limited, released two more studio albums, Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (2004) and You Are There (2006), and toured worldwide in their support. In 2008, the band took a break, returning one year later with a new studio album, Hymn to the Immortal Wind (2009), also on Temporary Residence Limited. During the tour that followed they recorded Holy Ground: NYC Live With The Wordless Music Orchestra which was released in 2010. The band's style of music is influenced by the genres of experimental rock and shoegazing, as well as by both the classical and contemporary classical periods of classical music, and also by noise and minimalism. Mono's sound is characterised by the lead and rhythm guitars of Goto and Yoda respectively, both of whom make extensive use of reverb, distortion and delay effects. The band's live performances are noted for their intensity, both in the playing and in the dynamics.