Our inspirations for any form of art may come from anywhere. Sometimes, we can draw them from personal experiences. But at the time we share those experiences with the world, they become independent from us. They still are personal for us while they resonate with the public, who appropriates them. It sure is something beautiful when someone is able to resonate with our music and life and make them their own by giving it their own interpretation. Everyone gives them a unique meaning; the same track represents something unique to each one of them. This happens with Language Games’ first EP Vignettes for a Sad Life. While painting musical soundscapes of personal experience, Language Games invites the listener to give them their own interpretation. Raw and melancholic, Vignettes for a Sad Life has an ever-expansive range of emotion and storytelling that guarantees each listening experience to be unique.
Language Games is a solo indie rock project by composer and multi-instrumentalist Asian American Kurt Gottwald. Experienced by playing in diverse gigs of different genres that include reggae, rock, jazz and classical, Gottwald has recorded and played alongside artists such as Drake Bell, Screechy Dan and The Antlers. His musical background can be evidenced by how he experiments with sound and genres. Language Games’ other influences also include his theatre background in the way he handles his live shows and interacts with his audience. This interaction translates to his songwriting. By his handling of metaphors, storytelling and composing in open ended ways, he invites his listeners to interpret and think about their own experience may be reflected in the music.
These songs represent moments in my life. The key word being “MY” life. So, use these as a sort of choose your adventure or starting point for things that occur for your stories. I will outline the different themes and characters and anything else I felt while making these songs. But like I said these should be used only as an outline. Try to make your own story. In the end just feel and don’t think then your story and life comes. As a great Buddhist said here is my circle now draw your circle, now follow your own circle. -Language Games
Vignettes for a Sad Life draws its themes from Gottwald’s personal experience, tackling themes that include love, relationships, depression and identity. He creates a general melancholic atmosphere through his harmonic and instrumental experimentation on each track, drawing different vignettes of day to day life and thoughts with which the listener may identify themselves with through its open ended storytelling. While Gottwald states that the stories were taken from his life, he invites the listener to identify their own stories and use the tracks to tell their own stories. “Mr. Ego” tells the story about an unconventional relationship, “Bandit” is about finding where one belongs, “Killing Fields” is about monotony of daily lives, of doing things because one has to, “Symbiotic Love” is about being attached to something or someone you don’t necessarily need, or love and “Xanax Holiday” is about how we perceive and treat mental health in our contemporary world. These are the foundations by which Language Games starts off the tracks of the album. From there, his music and his lyrical prowess build a soundscape that invites the listener to finish building what he has started by projecting their own life stories and emotions in each track. With this Vignettes of a Sad Life proves to be a special debut that is not afraid to confront its audience.
Vignettes of a Sad Life is an album that will be different for everyone. With his storytelling and composition techniques, Language Games allows each listener to experience the album their own way while also being extremely personal to his life.
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This coverage was created via MusoSoup #Sustainablecurator
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