I often think that the greatest cultural divide in modern life isn?t political, religious or ethnic; it?s between rural life and urban life. Shuji Inaba is from the rural Japanese province of Shimane and his rough-hewn, weather-beaten folk music remind me more of the traditional folk and country sounds I grew up with in rural Arkansas than of Boredoms, Acid Mothers Temple or any of the other major signposts of contemporary Japanese urban freakiness.

This isn?t to say that Inaba plays Americana. He plays the guitar in a style that is related to American & British folk music, but his vocals and lyrics are uniquely Japanese. His primary predecessor is Kazuki Tomokawa, also known as ?the screaming philosopher? for his extreme vocal delivery. Like Tomokawa, Inaba has a rough but flexible voice that can switch from melody to a rough bark or a strained scream and then switch right back again. Inaba?s voice sounds rougher and older, but also more melodic. While Tomokawa sounds like a predecessor to hardcore punk, Inaba sounds like a grandfather whose voice has gained in character what it has lost in range.

Inaba sings in Japanese, but the lyrics are in the liner notes in both Japanese and English. Like in traditional Japanese poetry, nature is used as a starting point to discuss other topics. For Inaba, the topics he chooses are often political in nature, although in a more subtle way than the stereotypical protest folk singer. In ?Catching Evening Cicadas,? Inaba uses the inability of city dwellers to spend a summer evening catching cicadas to comment on modern life?s growing disconnection with nature.

The opening track, ?Fate and Fortune,? is a 13 minute epic that sums up the ideas of the album and also serves as the best track. Inaba touches on all his vocal styles, and his guitar moves from melodic lines to frantic strumming to near silence. The 5 seconds that start at the 2:15 mark where all you can hear is the reverberation of the strings and you?re waiting for the guitar to come back in is one of the most haunting moments of anticipation I?ve heard this year.

The other tracks on the album are all far shorter and reinforce the ideas that Inaba has already presented, but they also expand on them in several unique ways. ?Let's Play? has lightly swinging almost-Eastern European rhythm that sounds like a Japanese take on Jewish folk music. ?My Apple? is the most musically upbeat and melodic, even though it relays a typically depressing tale.

The second half of the album moves in to more minimal territory. ?Afterimage of an Echo ~ Hiroshima? is appropriately spare and focused on the vocals, but the track that follows it, ?Inasa Beach?, makes for a more harrowing listen. The rest of the disk continues with the simple, quiet guitar playing that puts the focus on Inaba's expressive vocals. ?Coleacanth? does have some very nice blues influenced guitar lines at the end, though.

Note should be made of the quality of the recording. This is a remastered and reissued edition of a CD-R Last Visible Dog released a few years ago. I haven?t heard the original, but the sound on this edition is stunning. The guitar sound warm and full, like your ear is right next to the resonant chamber. From the quality of the songs and recording to the gorgeous artwork and enlightening liner notes, this is one of the strongest releases (new or reissued) I?ve heard all year long. 10/10 -- Ed Corcoran (23 October, 2006)