Ostara
Kingdom Gone

Born from the ashes of Strength Through Joy, Ostara emancipate themselves from the typically neo-folk sounds that characterized the past to soar gracefully into the empyrean of elegant and inspired pop/rock.

For those who don't know, Strength Through Joy was the band of Timothy Jenn and Richard Leviathan, a figure we have seen collaborating repeatedly with the guru of apocalyptic folk, Douglas Pearce (notably appearing in the Scorpion Wind project and especially co-authoring the album "Kapo!" with Death in June).

Among the most faithful disciples of Pearce's aesthetic, Jenn and Leviathan decided in 2000 to change their style by creating Ostara and releasing the strong debut "Secret Homeland", followed just two years later by this "Kingdom Gone", in my opinion their most valuable work (later Jenn would leave the project, leaving Leviathan alone at the helm, who with "Ultimate Thule" would inaugurate the band's not entirely convincing electric turn, now oriented toward a more typically rock formula).

The ties with Death in June, still powerfully present in the music of Strength Through Joy, are brutally severed here; so don't be frightened by the cover and title: "The Kingdom Gone" is a fine collection of falsely frivolous folk-ballads, because although the spoken language is that of pop, the lyrical concept behind the songs retains the thematic depth of the previous formation, while amidst flowing, easy-to-listen music, one can find a refined melodic search and always inspired writing that's rarely encountered in the genre.

The apocalyptic past emerges here and there in the moods of certain ballads (particularly the beautiful "Life's Simmetry" and "Transylvania"), evocative symphonic interludes, and industrial tracks (such as the martial "March of the Rising Sun", for example, or the dark title-track, ominously placed at the album's tail) that are called to break the melodic flow, which without these episodes would probably end up cloying the listener with harsher tastes.

Predominant, however, are the moods of an airy and crystalline folk-rock, dreamy and at times romantic, that distances itself from dark-wave to venture into sounds that wouldn't be out of place in R.E.M. albums like "Out of Time" and "Automatic for the People".

A lot comes from Leviathan's clean and breezy voice, in stark contrast to the themes addressed (mythology, esotericism, philosophy, and literature embrace in the usual critique of the mediocrity of the present, as happens in every self-respecting apocalyptic folk album).

The album starts with a bang with "Bavaria", a high commercial appeal piece, which may become perhaps the most loved by fans and one of the staple tracks of Ostara's repertoire.

The eleven episodes that follow are certainly no less: refined examples of highly catchy folk/rock with always winning and never banal choruses. To embellish it all, you'll find strings, flutes, piano and keyboards perfectly micro-fitted into the acoustic mood that dominates the album (a noteworthy mention for sure are "The Trees March North" and "Sword of Reverie", other classics of the group).

The rhythmic contribution is not at all secondary to the sound's economy: among the various guest percussionists, worth noting is the presence in "Never Weep" of the ubiquitous John Murphy (already a frequent collaborator of Pearce and a steady presence in recent Death in June tours): a piece that ends up reminiscent of the bucolic prog of Caravan's "In the Land of Grey and Pink."

A particularly cheeky track, yet irresistibly charming, is the amusing "Tatenokai", a non-sensical electronic interlude where the line "Tatenokai...Tatenokai...Banzai! Banzai!" is repeated over a minimal dance-floor base: an intelligently crafted piece that is perfectly in place, further broadening the sound spectrum adopted by the English duo.

This "Kingdom Gone" is paradoxically not recommended for die-hard apocalyptic folk enthusiasts (who probably demand more tense and caustic atmospheres), but rather suggested for all lovers of good music that knows how to be profound without giving up smoothness and catchy melodies.

Tatenokai...Tatenokai...Banzai! Banzai!