''Mono No Aware'' is a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...

songs by various artists, released by the Berlin-based record label PAN. Titled after the Japanese term of the same name, meaning "the

pathos Pathos (, ; plural: ''pathea'' or ''pathê''; , for "suffering" or "experience") appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. Pathos is a term used most often in rhetoric (in which it is c ...

of things" or "an

empathy Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...

towards things", ''Mono No Aware'' features previously unreleased tracks by artists under the PAN label, including

Yves Tumor Sean Bowie, best known by the recording alias Yves Tumor, is an American musician and producer of experimental music, born in Miami, Florida and currently based in Turin, Italy. To date, they have released four studio albums: ''When Man Fails Y ...

and Jeff Witscher.

Release

''Mono No Aware'' was first released on

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

as a "special art edition" at the Los Angeles Art Book Fair in February 2017, limited to 100 copies. The album later received a general release on physical and digital media on 17 March 2017.

Reception

Mark Richardson of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' gave the album a positive review, writing that "Each piece of the 80-minute compilation has its own unique identity, yet together it feels like the work of one mind." ''

Crack Magazine ''Crack'' is a monthly independent music and culture magazine distributed across Europe. Founded in Bristol in the UK in 2009, the magazine has featured Björk, MF Doom, Lil Yachty, FKA twigs, Gorillaz and Queens of the Stone Age on the cover. T ...

''s Tom Watson, in his review of the album, wrote that, "Often, ''mono no aware'' achieves something transcendental with music that is hypnotic, diverse and tenebrous but clearly forged by the sensitive hands of humans"; Watson concludes by calling it "a

Spirograph Spirograph is a geometric drawing device that produces mathematical roulette curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The well-known toy version was developed by British engineer Denys Fisher and first sold in ...

of uniquely experimental artists merging together to create something even more beguiling. A truly arresting listen." Jake Witz of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

praised

's track "Limerence", calling it "a heartbreaking look at how ''mono no aware'' transpires within the context of a romantic relationship." Witz commended the track's use of

audio sample In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sounds or entire bars of music, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or ...

s of romantic partners in a

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

as "a haunting ceremony", and wrote that, "''mono no aware'' is painful, but only if you see the past and present as disconnected worlds. By fusing decayed recordings with modern ambience, "Limerence" transforms death from a negative experience into a universal bond of empathy."

Release

Reception

Track listing

Personnel

References