Kazuhiro Nishimatsu -- Byakuya e no Shoutai（白夜への招待）

 

With October 31st coming up in the next few weeks, I'm pretty sure that I'll be covering Danny Elfman's "Beetlejuice" theme for the annual Halloween ROY article. It's quite the distinct song that set up the composing career by the former vocalist for Oingo Boingo. For a while, he seemed to be the go-to guy for magical European Gothic suspense horror scores for movies like "Batman" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas".

Earlier today, I received word from a KKP commenter that I hadn't heard in some years, Matt K. We shared thoughts and feelings on one of the 1980s most unique Japanese pop albums, "Bouekifu Monogatari"（貿易風物語...Trade Wind Story） by singer-songwriter Kazuhiro Nishimatsu（西松一博）. The original 1985 LP provided music that felt like stuff that could be heard in that notorious bar in Mos Eisley where Han Solo had shot first. There was something of that techno-jazz cabaret vibe that could have come from the early 20th century...and maybe even the early 22nd century.

I provided articles for "Bouekifu Monogatari" in 2018 and 2020, and yet I think there are still a few tracks that I hadn't covered. Matt K. reminded me of one of those tracks. I did mention Elfman off the top and so here is "Byakuya e no Shoutai" (Invitation to a White Night) which sounds like something that could have floated around in the master composer's mind, even though of course, this is Nishimatsu's composition with Ren Takayanagi（高柳恋）as the lyricist. To be honest, listening to "Byakuya e no Shoutai", images of The Joker from Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" maniacally running around and cackling in his lair while playing a huge pipe organ have come to mind (although it's hard for me to imagine Jack Nicholson spending time on a keyboard). The frenzied minor-key chord progressions simply suggest villainous ideas are afoot here, something that Nishimatsu's vocal punctuations help enhance. I wonder whether the singer had sported a mask and a quill pen when coming up with this one.