<p style='margin:0cm;font-size:16px;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;'>Japanese instrumental rock group <strong>MONO</strong> have announced their new album ‘Snowdrop’ will be released on 12 June 2026. It will be followed first Australian tour in 4 years, taking place in April 2027. The legendary quartet will perform in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and return to Perth and Adelaide for the first time since 2020.</p><p style='margin:0cm;font-size:16px;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;'><br></p><p style='margin:0cm;font-size:16px;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;'>When MONO recorded their previous album “OATH” with longtime production partner and friend, Steve Albini in 2023, they never fathomed that it would be the final studio album they made together. Albini tragically died the following year, and that loss left an incalculable void in the lives of not just everyone who ever knew Steve, but everyone with an attachment to any of the thousands of records he helped bring into world over the past four decades. He brought a clarity to the chaos, and a selfless sense of service to art and artists that was unrivaled. On both a personal and practical level, the loss left MONO faced with profound grief and uncertainty. Albini had become a fundamental part of MONO’s unmistakable sound, and the thought of replacing him was daunting, to say the least. </p><p style='margin:0cm;font-size:16px;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;'><br></p><p style='margin:0cm;font-size:16px;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;'>Enter: Brad Wood. Chosen for both his familiarity with MONO’s creative and technical working process – as well as his decades-long friendship withSteve Albini – Brad Wood entered Albini’s storied Electrical Audio studios in September 2025 to record what would become “Snowdrop”. Once again working with Chicago-based conductor and orchestral musical director, ChadMcCullough, MONO enlisted a 10-piece orchestra as