Bleep

Minimal Wave prove there is some justice in the world and present a lifeboat of timeless music from Japanese artist Tomo Akikawabaya aptly titled 'The Invitation of The Dead'. The music found within these four sides is cloaked in an obscure mystery having been active between 1983 and 1986 with six releases on Castle Records (we assume this was Akikawabaya's own venture as no other artist ever graced the label) before disappearing off the face of the (musical) planet until now. Thankfully those of you who know the music will no longer have to fork out upwards of a hundred pounds to purchase original copies of the records as Minimal Wave tracked him down and coaxed this reissue into reality. The music found within is a romantic mixture of darkwave synth pop with a lo-fi sound palette of lightly brushed drums and simple melodies with Akikawabaya's vocals singing unidentifiable poetry into the cool, evening air. Each release (minus one) featured a different photo of the model Rena Anju on the cover, but while nothing is known of the artist or his connection to Anju or what happened to cause him to stop releasing his music to the world all those years ago in 1986 now thankfully a wider audience can access this most mysterious, subtle and devastatingly delicate music. The sounds within bring to mind everything from Paper Dollhouse's East London romanticism to Tropic Of Cancer's downtown dusk heartbreak but all with a strikingly original and utterly unique feel of an artist out of time with his environment. The tracks compiled here come to form a unique album while maintaing the secrets around the sounds. We will never actually know what happened to Tomo Akikawabaya, or what caused his relationship with Rena Anju to lead to these breathtaking photos that graced the record sleeves but by listening to this album we feel slightly closer to uncovering the mysteries found within the Invitation Of The Dead.