Today's track is a bizarre yet oddly calming track created as a collaboration between Japanese Doom Metal/experimental music giants Boris and Japanese noise artist Merzbow. Of the two, I'm only familiar with Boris, and only through friends from college who are huge fans. This was never out of dislike, I just haven't had the time to do the deep dive on them given their massive catalog. Boris has been making music since 1992, with an impressive discography of 26 studio albums, and 14 EPs. Merzbow has been creating music and art since 1979 and has released 342 studio albums and 33 EPs. Needless to say, both institutions are prolific. This track is from the upcoming release 2R012P0 which is expected to drop on December 11th, 2020.
"Away From You" opens with some percussive noises that sound like clinking cans, clutter being moved around a table or a wind chime made of old food cans. It also closely imitates the sound of several clocks clinking in and out of time with each other. Synth sounds pepper this sound, as do some echoing guitar notes, creating and very organic sound, similar to the sound of the world waking up with the sunrise. A calming bass line starts at ~0:52, and it gives the song an ebb and flow to it. The noise track gets a little more out of sync with the music and more and more sounds are folded in as others start to drop out.
As it continues the music continues to grow in depth and complexity while still maintaining this organic, living environment. It's truly captivating. The vocals are gripping and haunting as the lace themselves through all these layers. The music takes a darker turn at ~2:57, and the synth noises grow pointed and unsettling. In this din beautiful tension blossoms in the soundscape adding dynamic moments to this track. The instruments settle back into the calm sounds from earlier, but the synth and noise tracks continue to grow more dissonant and abrasive. While not always the most pleasant thing to listen to, it creates a strong juxtaposition of ideas and sounds that, in this baffling way, works quite well. These two extremes continue to ride out, nearly to the end of the song until the final moment where the clock-like cluttering cans briefly return.
This was a truly beautiful track, and worth a listen or two at the very least. I'm not sure if this is a good representation of Boris and Merzbow, but I'm certainly more inclined to listen through their other stuff and their previous collaborations having experienced "Away From You". If you enjoyed what you heard, you can preorder this album here. You can find more info on Boris here, and more info on Merzbow here.
Cheers!
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