Short-form Merzbow hits like no other Merzbow, unloading a level of intensity that’s harder to sustain in long form. Active since the 80’s and with literally hundreds of releases to his name, Akita has taken a fisheye view of his own work for the last couple of decades, straddling his analogue and digital epochs and scattering sheet noise with instruments, found objects and pedals. »Pendulum« captures a recent session, recorded in early 2024, around the same time as that essential four-disc collaboration with John Wiese, »Akashaplexia«. Split into two five minute sides, »Pendulum« loops tape damaged industrial works to form a ratcheting, disoriented rhythm that’s torched with blaring feedback and static interference that constantly builds and destroys itself.