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The Grimm Masquerade
The Grimm Masquerade
2019 | Bluff, Card Game, Deduction, Fantasy
Have you ever been to a proper masquerade? I have not, though I would enjoy it, I think. I would enjoy it even more if I were competing against the other attendees to figure out who is who (and avoid having to do those Victorian square dances). But what if I were actually fairytale folk cavorting around with others trying to gain artifacts that speak to me while refusing any artifacts that may hurt me. Well now you understand my plight and the premise of this game.

The Grimm Masquerade is a hidden role competitive bluffing game for two to five players. In it player take on the roles of well-known fairytale folk attending a magical masquerade thrown by The Beast (I mean, he has a name, right? Not just “The Beast…”). Attendees are tasked with trying to unmask other attendees while earning magical roses in the process. The winner is the player who can earn the most roses at the end of three rounds of bluffing and guessing, unless one player is able to earn 10 roses before the end.

DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. Also, this review concentrates on the two-player variant for the game as I played it mostly with my wife. -T


To setup, place the main board showing all the fairytale folk in the middle of the table. Each player will receive two (one if playing multi-player rules) Character cards, all Evidence Markers of their chosen color, and Reference cards. Around the board is placed the remaining Character cards, the Artifact deck, the stack of Broken Mirror tokens, the pile of roses, and the Action Board with two random Action cards revealed on either side. For the two-player game six Artifact cards are revealed in a line and each player will choose one Artifact for each of their two characters they are playing. The unchosen Artifacts will form the discard pile near the Artifact draw pile. Whomever most recently wore a costume will be the lead player and the game may begin!
The game is played in rounds, with each turn of a round consisting of two steps. First, the active player draws an Artifact card and decides to keep it in their face-up tableau of Artifacts for all to see or give the Artifact to another player. Then the active player will draw a second card and either keep or give, whichever is opposite of their first choice. For example, should the first card drawn be kept, the next card would need to be given away. Each character has one Boon suit (which they love), and one Bane suit (which they despise). If at any time a character receives a card to create a matching pair in their tableau they must indicate whether that Artifact is in fact their Bane suit or not. They do this by placing one of their Evidence Markers on the character who owns that suit’s Bane value. However, if the player is actually the character who has that suit as their Bane, they have been unmasked and will play their other character in hopes of winning with them.

Should a player receive a card that would cause a set of three matching suit cards, they must indicate that they have either won the round or that they are not the character that matches that suit’s Boon value. For example, should a player receive their third Treats card they must declare they have won the round (if they happen to be Red Riding Hood), or that they are not indeed Red Riding Hood by placing an Evidence Marker on Red Riding Hood.

After this card play at the beginning of their turn the active player may choose to discard a matching pair of Artifact cards in order to activate an Action available (optional step). The Actions available are on the revealed Action cards on either side of the Action Board (which also shows an always-available Action of Point the Finger). So by discarding a pair of Crowns, for example, a player could utilize the Action card Eavesdrop in order to force the other player(s) to place Evidence Markers on characters they are NOT. This gives the active player more insight into who the other player(s) may actually BE.


Once cards have been drawn and the optional Actions taken, play passes to the next player. Players win the round by collecting three matching Boon Artifact cards or by unmasking all other characters in play. Whichever player wins the round also takes the Rose Trophy depending on which of the three rounds was just completed (value 1 for the first round, 3 for the second, and 5 for the third). At the end of the third round players count up their total roses (unless one player has earned 10 or more at the end of a previous round) and whomever has collected the most is the winner of The Grimm Masquerade!
Components. I have to say, every game I have played by Druid City Games has had amazing components, and this one is certainly no different. All the cardboard pieces, the cards, and the wooden discs are all excellent quality. But what I want to concentrate on here is the perfect choice to employ Mr. Cuddington for the art. Every time I see Mr. Cuddington on the credits for a game I know I am going to love looking at it on the table. They just have amazing style and everything is so detailed and perfectly matched for the setting. This FEELS like a Grimm’s Fairy Tales game for sure, and I love it.

It is definitely no secret that I love this one. I enjoy hidden role games to begin with (The Resistance: Avalon also being one of my favorites), and this setting feels excellently matched to the genre and the execution is wonderful. I really have a great time sussing out who is who and giving those final Artifacts in order to unmask players that are perceived to be leading is so fulfilling. Being able to spend matching cards in order to use Actions is also great design, especially when you can bluff by discarding your Boon cards to throw opponents off your trail. So much deceit in a fun package.

If you have few hidden role games and you want something with a light theme and relatively quick playtime, please do yourself a favor and check out The Grimm Masquerade. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a playful 15 / 18. If you are like us and enjoy games where you control some information and can guess other players’ identities, but also like games where you can still play on even when you have been found out, this one is for you. If only this could support even more players, I could see it unseating Avalon for me. As it is, I may still end up using this one more often than Avalon unless I have a larger group of people at the table. That is a big statement from me as Avalon is a proven winner and has been a staple of my collection for years. But The Grimm Masquerade is that good. Play it and let me know if you agree.
  
The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales
The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales
Kate Mosse | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am not going to ramble on and on giving you a synopsis for all the stories but I will let you know some of the ones that I enjoyed the most out of this collection. I really wanted to start reading some more short stories so I have continuously made an effort in reading a collection per month. With each book there are obviously going to be some better than others. I think the hardest thing for the authors is to create a really good and atmospheric story that will truly grip you and Kate Mosse has certainly done that in some of these stories. Others were a bit weak and easily forgettable.

The stories included are:

The Mistletoe Bride – 4/5 stars

Duet – 3.5/5 stars

Red Letter day – 2.5/5 stars

The drowned village – 3/5 stars

The house on the hill – 3/5 stars

Why the yew tree lives so long -1.5/5stars

Sainte-Therese – 3/5 stars

The ship of the dead -4/5 stars

La Fille de Melisande -2/5 stars

The revenant -5/5 star – FAVOURITE

On Harting hill -3.5/5 stars

The princess Alice -3/5 stars

In the Theatre at night 2.5/5 stars

The yellow scarf -3.5/5 stars

Syrinx 1/5 stars

Each of these stories comes with an authors note as what inspired her to write them. There are also some black and white gothic illustrations before each of the stories drawn by Rohan Daniel Eason which sets the tone. The stories are set in Sussex, Brittany and Languedoc that are based on Folk tales ranging from the 1800’s to the present day.

I will admit as writing this review I had to check the stories again to see which ones were which as they are somewhat forgettable. The ones that have clearly stuck with me is ‘The Mistletoe Bride’, ‘Duet’ and ‘The Revenant’.

The revenant was the best story by far in the book, it was eerie and creepy and had me on the edge of my seat with my pulse racing as I was actually scared but couldn’t stop reading. It is probably one of the scariest short stories that I have read! Mosse manages to create an intense atmosphere and completely grips the reader. The writing style is very easy to read and flows beautifully.

I would recommend this to people who are looking to read some short-stories that have historical fiction with supernatural elements and a bit of horror.

Overall I rated this 3.5/5 stars
  
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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) in Movies

Mar 3, 2020 (Updated Mar 3, 2020)  
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
2018 | Action, Animation, Sci-Fi
If I was still 10 or 11 years old, this might be my favourite film of all time (for a few months). The 10 year old trapped inside me kinda thinks it is! At first I was sceptical that it could be any good at all, seeing it getting nominated in a lot of best animation categories during award season, and then winning them all! From the poster, or even the trailer, alone, I just didn’t get it!

Then folk whose opinion I trust, that normally go for really intense dramas and artsy stuff, started telling me how good it was. I added it to my watchlist and walked away, nodding, as if to say “sure, I’ll get around to it”. More fool me for waiting so long, cos let me tell you, as modern animations go, it is really really good! But why? Well, there are several things that set it apart…

Firstly, it patronises no one. This is a fun, all swinging, all action, adventure, with real threat, real emotion and real excitement. Secondly, the love and attention that have gone into the myth of Spiderman and what he/she/it represents is so astonishingly comprehensive in a 2 hour film, that anyone living on Mars and never knowing a single thing about it, would understand instantly. You also don’t have to be a superhero geek to like it (but it helps a bit).

And thirdly, the animation. Wow, the animation! Incorporating so many styles and techniques, often in the same image / scene, it is a mind boggling experience, and a visual festival of comic book art. It shouldn’t work, but, my word, it not only works, it totally rocks! I have never felt before that I was experiencing a living, moving, comic book. Every detail makes you respect and appreciate this art form, and its evolution through the years.

Not only that, however, but it has an inclusivity that is awesome and so simple. This isn’t a film about boys, for boys. Gwen Stacy, aka Spider-Woman, is a great, strong character in her own right; as is Spider-Ham; as are all of them. Literally, there is something for everyone to relate to. And the cunning conceit that brings them all together just… works!

I’m not sure I’ll watch it very often, because, you know, I’m not 10 any more. But if I am ever in the mood to feel young and excited about heroes, then this will be my first port of call.
  
Ladies of the Canyon by Joni Mitchell
Ladies of the Canyon by Joni Mitchell
1970 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I love her words, I love her guitar playing and the tunings, and it’s just constant inspiration for me, especially in that very, very personal ‘writing about your own life as subject matter’ stuff. She’s the queen of it in a way. I’ve been talking a lot about that first record that some people call Song To A Seagull and the songs are beautiful on it, but it’s also got this great over-riding concept, there’s a side about the country and a side about the city. You could say Joni is this folk singer but at the beginning she had this whole conceptual side and her early records are very conceptual. Ladies of the Canyon I’ve just started listening to again recently. I feel like besides Blue it’s just one of those ones that’s so classic and overheard you just stop listening to it because you’ve heard it so many times. I listened to it again and realised it’s also this concept album about this place she lived at the time and it’s got all these great, heavy songs on it including ‘Circle Game’ and ‘Woodstock’ and its an amazing record. It defines this Topanga Canyon era as much as Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush does – it was one of those places in time like Athens, Georgia when REM was starting or Seattle when Mudhoney and Nirvana were coming up, it was a really special place with a really tight knit musical community and a lot of people sharing ideas and songs and lovers, whatever it was, and I think that record really defines it in such an amazing way. I’m kind of obsessed with this song on that record called ‘Conversation’ which is about a secret love affair. The way she tells her stories are so amazing, and on that record the guitar playing is exquisite and the way she uses these women’s’ choruses behind her sounds almost like it could be off a Meredith Monk record or something like that, so I’m always bouncing around her early records. Everybody always picks Blue as the classic and I fucking love that record so much, but I really love all of those early records, up through Court & Spark she could do no wrong. You could almost pick any one of them, and I felt like I’d been neglecting Ladies of the Canyon recently so it’s been on a lot in the last week or so. Every time I hear it I feel like it tells me new things about my life as well."

Source
  
All-New Wolverine, Volume 5: Orphans of X
All-New Wolverine, Volume 5: Orphans of X
Tom Taylor | 2018 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
<b>**</b> <i>Before I begin, I should just like to preface this review with the following disclaimer: any reviews I have written are almost always going to be less than biased, due to the content being related to Laura Kinney (X-23). However, that being said, if the story is rubbish, and Laura is in it, I will still be honest in my review. Now, on to the review.. </i><b>**</b>

ORPHANS OF X was the perfect story arc to wash away the taste from the two previous arcs - "Enemy of the State II" and "Immune". From the beginning to the end, this was a solid story! There was action, there was suspenseful tension, and, of course, there was humor along the way (Thanks in part to Gabby, or as she is known by her new codename: Honey Badger!). A winning recipe for how to write a comic book successfully!

Under writer Tom Taylor's hand, Laura has evolved as a character. Yes, she was a former assassin. Yes, she killed a hell of a lot of people during her time when she was part of the Facility's Weapon X Program. However, that doesn't mean you can't a) move beyond that, nor b) can you just forget that. And that is what Taylor has done.

Laura has grown, taking on the responsibility of looking out for/"raising" her sister/clone Gabby. She displays more emotions, not 100% perfect, but considering her backstory, it makes sense the way she is being written.

No spoilers, promise, but the ending resolution to ORPHANS OF X sets in motion great potential! We know the next arc will be "Old Woman Laura", but after that? Oh, wait 'til you read it, and if you are a fan of the character, you should be as excite as I am!

And, as praiseworthy as Tom Taylor's writing was, I feel I should also gave a more than fair nod to new series artist (I hope!) Juann Cabal. A lot of talent, and definitely someone this book could use! Cabal's pencils are tight, yet fluid. He brings a lot of action to a fight panel, yet also brings a careful attention to facial detail when it is a simpler, not action-y scene.

Oh, of course, there were also some amazing (as always) covers by fan favorite Terry Dodson! Brilliant!!

Many of us, fans of Laura Kinney, have been hankering for a story like this. Everything about it was all aces! But, don't let me be the final word on this. By all means, good folk, read on..
  
Zange - Single by Bongeziwe Mabandla
Zange - Single by Bongeziwe Mabandla
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
Bongeziwe Mabandla is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Tsolo, a rural town in South Africa. Not too long ago, he released a groovy Afro-folk tune, entitled, “Zange”.

“‘Zange’ (Never Before) is about being changed by love and never being the same again. It’s about finding a new beginning and feeling alive for the very first time. It’s a song about the idea that true and real love can ultimately save us.” – Bongeziwe Mabandla

‘Zange’ finds Bongeziwe Mabandla looking inward, recounting how time, pressure, and life’s experiences beyond the city have transformed him.

He drew inspiration from Frank Ocean and Solange to create music which carries his traditional Xhosa lyrics. ‘Zange’ is the title track from his upcoming album.

“The writing process for this album was very different from my other albums, this came very quickly. I had to make ‘Zange’ during tours and while working on other stuff, but I definitely enjoyed the process; it felt really refreshing and effortless. The writing process dealt a lot with my feelings of love and relationships. I think there is a lot of ourselves that goes totally bare when in love and I think and talk a lot about how the need for connection is so vital to us. The album starts off with meeting someone and how feelings evolve to love, and then the pain and heartache of being with someone. The last songs are about the end of a relationship and the cutting of ties. Basically, the separation of people who used to be incomplete without each other. ‘Zange’ is about time, and how things eventually unfold. Time can change so much.” – Bongeziwe Mabandla

Bongeziwe Mabandla was born in the lush, mountainous region of Eastern Cape, where he fell in love with art, drama, and music.

Later, he moved to the city of Johannesburg in order to develop his own unique style as a guitar-toting musician, bringing pieces of the countryside with him.

“I want people who listen to my music to hear that I am getting older. I’m thinking about different things. I wanted to talk about love because so many of us are so alone and so broken that we would do anything to love. Love reveals us. Before I wrote this album I thought: “What is going on inside me?” I realized that I think about love and the lack thereof, all the time. Feeling alone, looking for love, being heartbroken, getting up and all the mess that comes with loving someone. The title track is about the good times, making memories that will shape you forever.” – Bongeziwe Mabandla
  
Dumbo (1941)
Dumbo (1941)
1941 | Animation, Classics, Family
With the live action Dumbo out I thought it was high time I watched the original. After seeing it I'm fairly certain I've watched it before but I imagine that it was so long ago that the memory has been replaced with a lot of other movie knowledge.

Dumbo is such a simple story, and even though the film is only just over an hour long it barely feels like that length of time. It moves along so swiftly, no excess of story, just an excess of cuteness.

The animation is wonderful, simple and yet expressive. Dumbo is adorable the whole way through, I honestly don't know how they managed to capture everything in such a tiny little elephant. When he's dinking the giant peg with his tiny hammer and all the effort he puts in "helping" to put up the big top. Such a talented bunch of people. Although I think they peaked at the scene where he was holding his breath.

With Disney we're obviously treated to that musical element and these classics are oh so singable. I was unashamedly singing along at the top of my voice. I hope you all were too.

If Dumbo was around nowadays he's have been an instant internet sensation, his circus would have been fighting back the crowds. The headlines would have read "Boy spanked by elephant after climbing in to mock baby." People would have praised Mrs Jumbo for defending her child, some would have been calling for her to be put down, while the rest of us normal folk would be going "it serves the little bugger right, who climbs into an elephant enclosure?!"

This was a genuinely entertaining watch if you ignore the dated and slightly insensitive beginning.

Extra:

Deleted Scenes

The Mouse's Tale
Are You A Man Of A Mouse
Backstage Disney
Taking Flight: The Making Of Dumbo
The Magic Of Dumbo: A Ride Of Passage
Sound Design: Excerpt From "The Reluctant Dragon"
Celebrating Dumbo
Original Walt Disney TV Introduction
Trailers
Art Galleries
All of the backstage pieces are interesting to watch but you definitely have to see the Sound Design featurette, they've done it in a really fun way and it really brought a smile to my face.


What you should do

Of course you have to watch it, I don't know why you wouldn't.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

I'd say a flying elephant, but I don't really have the space.
  
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Lee Ronaldo recommended Blind Joe Death by John Fahey in Music (curated)

 
Blind Joe Death by John Fahey
Blind Joe Death by John Fahey
1964 | Folk
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Blind Joe Death was kind of John Fahey’s alter ego. He wanted to put out records under a different name and pretend he was an old obscure bluesman. He was obsessed with collecting these old obscure records that informed his American primitive style and he went on these quests down South to look for old 78 records with a couple of friends of his. Eventually they found this artist Skip James and rejuvenated his career. James wasn’t in music at all any more and he was someone they revered. Fahey was steeped in this whole mythology of his early period of these recording heroes that weren’t on television, weren’t on the magazines and you only saw them if you happened to be in Mississippi where they lived or the rare places they travelled to and I think he really longed to be one of those guys. So when Fahey started being serious about making his records his idea was “I’m going to make this record, I’m going to call it Blind Joe Death” and this was a totally obscure idea, “I’m going to slip it into bins at record shops and at thrift stores and people will find it and ten or fifteen years from now they’ll say I wonder what happened to Blind Joe Death?” It’s an obscure task from the very beginning, it’s not like he’s shooting for fame and fortune and Top Of The Pops, it’s almost the opposite of that. He’s shooting for obscurity, for this blissful obscurity that he was relating to. Self-mythologizing but in a way that’s so deep down. It’s not self-mythologizing like whoever does that these days, like Nick Cave or whoever, like somebody who is doing it on a big scale where a lot of people are reading about it, this is like Fahey’s self-mythologizing himself out of existence almost, hoping that 20 years later 5 people will have this record in their collection, ‘cos that’s the kind of guy he was, a guy that would make a record only 5 other people would have. The original Blind Joe Death was released on only 100 copies and Fahey was developing this style that wasn’t beholden to the pop music of the day or anything like that. He was obviously listening to a lot of different stuff but he was formulating this thing that was really his own basically. It proved really influential to a certain class of people, certainly everybody that was involved in either folk music, or later on folk turning into pop music, or a lot of the people from Sonic Youth’s generation that kind of went back to it. Fahey was really an antecedent in a way because he was playing in open tunings and playing a lot of stuff that didn’t fit any easy categorisation. Then later on he was doing tape manipulated pieces and adding sounds he recorded from tapes into his acoustic finger-picking stuff and obviously much later he was playing this really weirdo electro distorted music and ploughing his own row in a sense. I came across him really early for a strange reason and it was for another record that I was going to put on the list, which was a record by Leo Kottke that Fahey put out. Leo Kottke is a much more popular person in the same vein as John Fahey and his early records were on Fahey’s label and he rose to quite a bit more popularity. He’s mostly an instrumental guitar player. He’s a lightning fast, super technical finger-picker with a lot of open tunings and his first record was called Six And Twelve String Guitar – it’s all instrumentals and it was one of the very first records on Fahey’s Takoma label. Somehow I came into that record very early, it’s got a weird black and white woodcut on the cover with an armadillo or something and it’s an amazing record. And after that record I started getting interested in this label Takoma and Fahey’s records were the next ones I found on it and then I realised that it was basically Fahey’s. Then later, especially when Jim O’Rourke was in Sonic Youth, because he was so tied in with Fahey, we got even more into Fahey at that point. Fahey was also making these primitive artworks. We used a piece of his on the front cover of Sonic Youth’s The Eternal and I collected a bunch of stuff. A couple of years before he died I managed to do a short tour with him, just a duo tour where we were both playing solo sets and we travelled around in a car for a week or so and he was making all these drawings on the road and I managed to get a couple off him. I’ve got a lot of his work at this point. He just was a very singular character and I think that’s what makes his music so beautiful that he just had his own agenda. He wasn’t kow-towing to the mores of the day or what people expected of their recording artist. He played the game for a little while and then said “oh fuck it”, got fat and weird and just kept doing his thing."

Source
  
The Good Daughter
The Good Daughter
Karin Slaughter | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
9
8.2 (25 Ratings)
Book Rating
spell-binding (2 more)
shocking
fascinating
Charlie and Sam grew up in Pikeville, Georgia, with anything but an idyllic childhood. When the girls were teens, they were part of a brutal assault at their family's farmhouse. The attack left their mother, "Gamma," dead and profoundly affected their father, a prominent local attorney. Years later, Charlie remains in Pikeville, a lawyer like her father, and trying to keep the past behind her. All that changes when the town witnesses violence yet again--and Charlie is right in the thick of it. Suddenly, she's forced to confront so many of the emotions she's buried for years and to fully deal with exactly what happened to her family so many years ago.

Slaughter's latest novel starts quickly out of the gate--with a brutal, graphic, and spell-binding description of the assault and attack on Charlie, Sam, and Gamma--and it never lets up from there. Seriously, this book never lets you take a breath or a break: it's just constant action and second guessing.

Told from the points of view of both Charlie and Sam, including their varying memories of the incident at the farmhouse, we are forced to see all the events and violence through the eyes of the two sisters alone. As I mentioned, this keeps you guessing--and reading. I completely put down the other novel I was reading at the time (FINAL GIRLS) to read this: I had to know how it ended.

All the characters in this book are entwined, and Slaughter does a great job of depicting the small town of Pikeville. It's a mystery at its core, sure, but it also goes deeper with commentary on race, class, and how modern society deals with mass tragedy. The characters are well-drawn: I immediately found myself intrigued by Sam, Charlie, their father (Rusty), the descriptions of Gamma, and by a slew of small-town folk, including Rusty's secretary Lenore, and Charlie's estranged husband, Ben. Slaughter is excellent with the details.

Indeed, she's great at doling out those "whoa" moments. The plot never lets down; in fact, it continues to pick up as the novel continues on. I truly gasped a couple of times and found myself going "wow"! That's not easy to do once, let alone consistently.

This is a beautiful book at times--the way the plot and characters weave together. It even makes you laugh at moments, despite some truly somber subject matter. I found myself a bit irked at times by Charlie and Sam's fighting (I've read a lot of books with sisters fighting as of late), but if that's my only nitpick, that's not bad at all.

Overall, a great mystery that keeps you guessing and surprised to the very end. Excellent, fascinating, and deep characters. Definitely worth a read.
  
The Art of Letting Go by Mauwe
The Art of Letting Go by Mauwe
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
Mauwe (Portia & Jay) is a Bristol-based indie-pop duo. Not too long ago, they released their debut EP, entitled, “The Art of Letting Go”.

The 5-track project is a chronicle of love lessons that Mauwe learned in life. Also, hopefulness is the common theme throughout the EP.

“That’s All”

That’s All wishes an old flame the best. Nothing more nothing less. The song is sung from a female’s point of view, where the woman in question is thinking about her ex-boyfriend.

She knows their relationship is over. Plus, she’s dealing with the fact that he has moved on with another woman. But that doesn’t stop her from telling him that she’s thinking about him.

“Smoked a Pack”

Smoke a Pack is an edgy song about a woman that’s waiting for a phone call from a man she regrets being in a relationship with. While waiting, she realizes she should have never gotten into a relationship with him in the first place.

The woman is thinking about her friends warning her not to get into the relationship and other regretful actions. The situation is nerve-racking so she smokes a pack of cigarettes. She’s trying to release her stress and anger the cheapest way she knows how.

“Gold”

Gold is an apprehensive song about falling for someone new. The song places a woman that’s drunk in love with a man that makes her feel like gold.

The woman compares her current state of drunken love to someone who is on drink number three. Depending on what that person is drinking, probably means she’s feeling good inside.

“Walls”

Walls is an emotional R&B/Soul ballad. It’s about a woman who’s losing her mind. Although she’s out of a broken relationship, her heart is still imprisoned there.

The woman is going insane trying to forget her ex’s name. She used to have control, but since he let her go, she writes on the walls to past time. Sometimes, love is a pretty gloomy thing isn’t it?

“Strangers”

If you’ve ever taken the time to look back at some of life’s more challenging moments, accompanied by a tub of Ben & Jerry’s or a bottle of wine, you’ll probably relate to Strangers.

The song is built on the sereneness of solitary thought. On moments that give us the clarity needed to see things how they really were.

Mauwe’s songwriting directions have a clear lineage to what they were influenced by prior to their formation.

 Jay outlines contemporary folk and electronica as his staples growing up.

In conclusion, we highly recommend that you listen to Mauwe’s debut EP, entitled, “The Art of Letting Go”.

https://www.bongminesentertainment.com/mauwe-art-letting-go/