Since
the autumn of 2016, there has been flurry of activity for Richard
Leviathan’s Ostara project. Firstly, Ostara released a new album,
Napoleonic Blues, on vinyl back in October (note: my review of
this release can be read here at Heathen Harvest), with a digital
version via Bandcamp and a digipack CD version being released in
January of this year. As with Ostara’s prior album, Paradise
Down South, Soleilmoon handled the physical versions of
Napoleonic Blues. In between these releases, Ostara saw a
handful of live performances as well, with an Australian concert in
December and an appearance in Nuremberg in October.
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| Ostara's Napoleonic Blues, CD version (personal collection) |
February,
however, saw Leviathan do something expected: out of the blue, he
released a digital only single for a song called “Runaway Horses”
on Bandcamp. Posited as a non-album single, “Runaway Horses”
isn’t quite a companion to Napoleonic Blues, yet it isn’t
totally divorced from the album either. Leviathan explains how the
song came into being as such:
It's a completely new song that
was in the repertoire just before the release of the album and has a
somewhat different mood and quality from that collection and thus
could be a prelude to what is to come. Sometimes a song comes into
being and stands out, insisting to be recorded, like an omen seeking
fulfillment. I remember when Death in June's "Leopard Flowers"
was released separately from Rose Clouds of Holocaust and
really stood apart from that work while complementing it quite
beautifully.1
Per
the text on the Bandcamp page, “Runaway Horses” is inspired by
the 1969 novel of the same name by Japanese multi-genred
artist/writer, Yukio Mishima. Mishima has has a profound influence on
the neofolk scene (as well as other underground genres of music).
Douglas Pearce of Death in June has expressed Mishima being his
favourite author next to Jean Genet.2 References to
Mishima can be found in songs on The World that Summer3
as well as the grey-market boxset release of Tribute
to Yukio Mishima & Jean Genet which contains a live Death in
June performance from Japan.4 “Raio No Terrasu (Jesus
Wept)” on Current 93’s Dogs Blood Rising references
Mishima’s play Terrace of the Leper King.5 Les
Joyaux De La Princesse’s Erik Konofal has expressed influence from
Mishima6 while Die Weisse Rose’s release Kyrie
Eleison contains a quotation from him.7 Leviathan
explains how he became exposed to Mishima’s work and his influence in
Ostara’s “Runaway Horses”:
I started reading him at sixteen
when I read Temple of the Golden Pavilion and then proceeded
to devour the rest of the novels and short stories. Runaway Horses
was an enduring favourite, along with the rest of the four books of
The Sea of Fertility. I think Mishima was unique as a writer
and quite literally as an author of his own destiny, his death by
suicide being the final act of a living book in which the man and the
mask, the pen and sword became one. His personal fanaticism, his
coupling of aesthetics and the martial spirit is rare in the modern
age but it can be inspirational to others when it is brought into the
light as a living example beyond nostalgia or illusion. While many
are drawn to the life and the cult of his personality, it is through
reading the work that you discover how his obsessions with beauty,
mortality, history and fatality are presented in a very human,
conflicted and ambivalent way. It's never just about heroic ideals
and spiritual principles. At the centre of everything is the way in
which the characters think, act and interact, mostly as tragic
figures seeking something enduring in a life doomed to dissolution
and decay. It's that 'runaway' sense of a fanatical urge to live, act
and die with absolute resolution regardless of the consequences that
inspired this song. It is ultimately a kind of liebestod,
which is why I designed the artwork and video around some striking
photographs I have from a geisha performance I attended in Kyoto in
2014. These complement the romantic and erotic themes of the song
quite well.8
Taking
the text and music as is, independent from the influence of Mishima,
“Runaway Horses” sounds romantic. The song is in the vein of
Leviathan’s iconic neofolk-pop style, yet it is “beatier” as
there is a toe-tapping rhythm to it. There is also this feeling
optimism to the song. Closing ones eyes, one could picture a heroic
narrator saving his betrothed, riding off into the sunset together.
This interpretation, of course, has little in common with Mishima’s
Runaway Horses, but that is perhaps indicative of the
multifaceted nature of the lyrics. They can be an extension of
Mishima’s work, or something catered uniquely to the listener.
Typical neofolk songs that pay lip service or tribute to a literate
source are not usually written to be consumed in a variety of means.
Intentional or not, “Runaway Horses” is definitely multifaceted.
This attribute, combined with Leviathan’s pop/folk stylings makes
“Runaway Horses” an extremely attractive, standout song.
 |
| "Runaway Horses" graphic used at the Ostara Bandcamp page |
The
song may be confined to Bandcamp for the time being, but Leviathan
has greater plans for it: “Bandcamp is a nice way to showcase music
but the goal is always to extend that effort towards an album, which
is where it will eventually end up. I acted on impulse with this one
and the reaction so far has been fantastic.”9
“Runaway
Horses” can be found via streaming or purchase here:
https://ostara.bandcamp.com/track/runaway-horses-single
Official
Links
http://www.ostara.net/
- Official website for Ostara
https://ostara.bandcamp.com/
- Official Bandcamp page
https://www.facebook.com/ostaramusic/
- Official Facebook Page
Endnotes/Citations
1.
Richard Leviathan, email message to Nicholas Diak, March 14, 2017
2.
Andreas Diesel and Dieter Gerten, Looking for Europe: The History
of Neofolk, trans. Markus Wolff (Zeltingen-Rachtig, Germany:
Index Verlag, 2003), 91.
3.
Ibid., 91-92.
5.
Diesel & Gerten, 63.
6.
Ibid., 325.
8.
Leviathan, email.
9.
Ibid.
Bibliography
Diesel,
Andreas, and Dieter Gerten. Looking for Europe: The History of
Neofolk. Translated by Markus Wolff. Zeltingen-Rachtig, Germany:
Index Verlag, 2003.
Ostara.
Napoleonic Blues. 2017 by Soleilmoon. SOL192CD. Compact disc.
Ostara.
“Runaway Horses.” 2017 by Bandcamp. No catalog #. Digital
download.
