Naming their latest LP, Japanese sludge legends Boris chose a title as simple and iconic as their band name: Noise. It suited the music – 58 minutes of swirling, psychedelic, shoegaze-tinged doom – but also spoke of something greater.

Boris were formed in Tokyo in 1992 with one goal. "The only focus we had was to make it really heavy," says Takeshi, one of the three single-name members. Takeshi serves as bassist, guitarist, and vocalist, playing a signature double-necked bass-and-guitar in one immortalised on the Bryter Layter-inspired cover of 2003's Akuma No Uta.

Boris

Boris's core trio – Takeshi, guitarist/vocalist Wata and drummer/spokesman Atsuo – have made 19 albums in the last 20 years. Remaining forever heavy, their albums have pushed accessibility and inaccessibility. "We have our own signature sound that only three of us can make," Takeshi says. "As long as it still means 'heavy' for us it doesn't really matter if the music sounds poppy or droney. Our hope is to find out 'new' sounds and music. People say most music styles have already been born and there's nothing new any more, but I really want to look for something never before found, for some hidden miracle in music."

With Noise, that meant writing the album in the most "natural, neutral-feeling, unconscious way", putting aside conceptual ideas and structured process for improvisation. The album's title doubles as a compositional philosophy (Takeshi says "noise is glue that can bind together different things, noise can lend a definitive shape to the music") and as a titular connection to Japan's rich history of noise music. Boris have collaborated with noise legends Merzbow and Keiji Haino, and in a 2014 interview Atsuo said: "Noise is Japanese blues."

"Whenever you come to Japan, you can just hear it," Takeshi says. "Every street in every city is flooded with massive noise, from people talking, the constant playing of uncomfortable commercial music, so many conflicting sounds in one space. But no one ever says it is too loud or noisy. It is the natural character of Japanese people, making everything too much – and then not complaining – as their proof of 'hospitality'. I realised this the first time I toured outside Japan, and over time my feeling gets stronger and stronger."

Boris play the Corner in Richmond on Saturday, May 30.