Offset

Offset is the result of research into the sonic mechanics of printing machines. The printing workshops Cédigraphe, in Grenoble and Laville, in Paris, allowed me extensive access to their facilities in order to listen to and record their machines very closely. Offset brings together a series of compositions made from this material, electroacoustic variations that explore the rhythms and cycles of rotary presses, the textures and musicality of the machines at work. A work that stands on ambiguity, on the line of tension between the alienating machine and the musical machine, taking care of wandering away from these reference points...

The vinyl was co-released by Universinternational and doubtful sounds, the label of the late Thierry Monnier, in 2013.

Just before the album's release, I had the opportunity to present the work at Grands Terrains, in Marseille, with a reading of this text (in french).

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Out of people and things that need greater recognition, Pali Meursault's Offset LP is in my current top ten. The sound artist / theorist is a comparatively young authority in the modern world of musique concrete, known as much for his sonic offerings and collaborative video project as his installations, solo work and published written pieces.
Offset perfectly captures the sounds that 'industrial' producers set out to achieve, and rightly so. Recorded at two French printing factories, the rhythmic pounding of pistons and crunching sounds reflect the lightness of their work compared to say a car factory, but retain the rawness of metal machinery. — Keith P., Awkward Movements

Compelling, hypnotic, both in the naked state as well as in their more dressed versions. Two different sides, but both sound great, with a clear defined character of their own. Now this is very much like something I like very much! — Frans DeWaard, Vital Weekly

Meursault unquestionably excelled at what he set out to accomplish: there are definitely some people out there who will want to hear this and they will be very happy when they do. A small part of me secretly wishes Pali had been more aggressive in his treatment of the material but most of me just appreciates Meursault's commitment to purity and is largely awestruck by what he was able to accomplish with such a willfully limited palette. — Antonio D'Amico, Brainwashed