Music: Offering (Merzbow)

The press notes for Offering claim the album was inspired by the writings of Juran Hisao, a Japanese author not yet translated into English — in particular his mystery/noir novel Golden Wolf (the text of which is available through the public-domain archive Aozora Bunko). As with other Merzbow albums where the influences are worn openly on Masami Akita’s sleeve — A Taste Of... was allegedly inspired by various types of sushi — it’s something of a toss-up to see whether or not one can establish a connection between the music and the source material. I wasn’t able to figure out how this Amlux-like collection of rhythm loops and shearing layers of sound hooks back into Hisao’s tale, and I doubt it has anything to do with my translation skills not being quite up to snuff. The two tracks are titled “Deep Sea” and “The Light”, and you could sink into each of them as deeply as their real-world counterparts. This only makes me wonder all the more what album would spring from Akita’s encounters with Dogura Magura.