Helene Alexandra Jæger, also known by her artistic alias Holy Boy, takes a deep dive into the mystical realm with the release of her debut poetry collection Epicedium.
Continuing the dark, mystical narrative world of her songs, Epicedium is presented as a collection of 50 evocative short stories told in poetic format. These stories serve as portals to otherworldly journeys, reflecting Jæger’s influences from Gothic literature, the Beat Generation, and what she calls “the American Night”.
Released by London, UK based publisher Olympia, “Epicedium” leads the reader into dark and enigmatic worlds through hypnotic language.
As alternative music artist Holy Boy, Jæger has garnered considerable traction, being featured on BBC Radio 1, PBS, and the UK’s popular XFM. She has also performed at renowned festivals, including SXSW, NXNE, and CMJ, and was nominated for a 2019 Hollywood Music In Media Award under the alternative category.
Moving between music and poetry is an artistic alchemy that has been intriguing to Jæger. “There is definitely a sense of rhythm and a musicality to the pieces. I really enjoy the roller-coaster-like feeling of longer format poetry,” she comments
“As a songwriter, you’re usually limited to a very concise format, so it was liberating how these pieces were like going on a dizzying ride each time, through the expansiveness of the words.“
“In this longer format, the language can move and spin the reader around and become hypnotic, opening doors and bringing to mind symbols, visuals and feelings in a way that really appealed to me. At times It mirrors a shamanic trance state, almost, through the pulse of the words. That’s how it felt to me.”
Told through four transformative parts, Epicedium navigates the spectrum between the mystical and the painfully real, including struggles with depression, loss and isolation in an increasingly technological world told through the lens of mythology and the otherworldly.
As both a musician and poet, Jæger’s writings pulsate with palpable imagery and entrancing narratives. Titles like Arcanum, Sacred Bones, Shiva, Saturn/Trismegistus, and Carpe Noctem give glimpses into the book’s gothic atmosphere, and the more esoteric themes explored.
Speaking on the motivation and background behind the book, Jæger explains it was born out of experiments with automatic writing during a dark time, and delving deeper into her creative expression.
She says: “When you relax your conscious mind and stop ‘trying’ to write something or play something, that’s often when the most interesting creations come. Tapping into something deeper or higher, something beyond the analytical mind, is really exhilarating. Once you experience it, I think it changes how you see not just your creativity but the world.”With her work touching on themes of otherworldliness and the occult, Jæger’s exploration is a natural extension of her fascination with the mysterious, including our own inner world.
“It has been completely transformative to work with automatic writing. If I were going to describe it, I would say it was as if an ancient or eternal part of myself awakened from the depths. And I think that’s there in us all, whether it’s dormant or not.”
Epicedium also offers a unique perspective on emotional and mental health, taking readers on a cathartic journey in the form of unconventional, mythological, and story-based approaches to these challenges.
Rich and dizzying, the collection traverses into the darker corners of existence. Driven by an introspective tendency, the inclination to delve into the things society often sweeps under the rug, Jæger believes in exploring what cannot be easily seen, heard, explained or dealt with. As she calls it “other worlds”, and the “other worlds within us.”
Helene Alexandra Jæger’s upcoming projects include the release of an album as Holy Boy in 2024 and related tour dates.
For now, her focus is on sharing Epicedium with the world, with the hope that it may offer catharsis to readers and listeners called by mysteries, the eternal, dreams, the unconscious, and other worlds.
