So I’ve been rooting through the archives again! Back in 2003, between blasting soundtracker mods and punk records, I spent hours hacking away at lino blocks, tearing through ink-stained rags, printing these rough, jagged images.

Neo-expressionism was a big influence on me then (still is!), I love the kind of art that feels immediate, unpolished, and urgent. Bold lines, frantic energy, restless hands. The process was messy and unpredictable, but that was exactly what I needed at 17 year old punk. A way to channel something raw, something that didn’t have to be clean or precise, just honest.

Maybe not for everyone mind!

This one’s Three Friends (Hari Ren, 2003 – Lino Print)

Folk talk about them hares that slink through Harrowden’s mist, always close but never quite there when you turn to look. Puddle, Hob, and Loom, black as soot, quick as thought, loping through ginnels and lurking in the hedge-shade. They never leave Ammie Thornwick’s side, though none can say if she called them or if they found her first.

They are not tame. They are not friendly. But they are hers.

Hob is the one who leads. Black as soot, with eyes sharp as broken glass, he guides the others through Harrowden’s mist.

The Gloamrats haunt the ginnels of Lower Harrowden, where soot is thick and bog mist slithers through broken brick. Quick as a blink, quiet as dusk, they slip from shadow to shadow, hands black wi’ grime, eyes keen as crows. They bed in drain tunnels and tumbledown shacks, taking nowt for granted, living sharp, fearing nowt.

They’re not just birds. They’re watchers. And in Harrowden, nothing slips by when their eyes are on you.

Rain clagged thick in its brackenfur as the grim cat slinked through the backlanes, tail low, lugs twitchin’. Red glim eyes cut through the gloam like cinders in soot. Thunder clattered over Tallowton Mill, shivrin’ windowpanes and clatterin’ rust gnawed signs.

A thousand glare-hollows fix on the black cat as the sky rends wide, yawning raw and wrong. They peer at it from glow of their portal to this world as they try sleep, from the crookshadows in their safe home… yer not just lookin’ You feel it, dun’t yer too? That gnawin’ pull where the world frays like old warpcloth… But yer not just glentin’…

Your through now. There’s no slippin’ back.. The storm soaks into bone and blood, whispering through the drift…

Harrowden never forgets its own…

Beneath the interlaced sky we nex hax? Where Mamucium’s hum flickers weak, lost ‘yond the weave of wire-threaded heavens. By pulse and byte, we come to forge the Binary Covenant, no chant, no sigil, but the crackling code that binds fate to data-breach. In deep-dive datastreams, we’ll glimpse the rise and fall of man, not by stars, but by synapse-scripts and fractured signals that spin through cyberspace, where the neuro-punks and cyber-psychos lurk like ghosts in the code, hacking the very air they breathe. When the datastorm crashes, we’ll rise, and cry, “When shall the breach unfold? When shall the crash-beacon spark us forth?” For in the code, our truth is exfiltrated, and with every hack, we script our own ruin. For the system lies not, and none can firewall the bite of the signal.

Rosa Gutteridge ov The Grimwyke Punx stomps through the grime of Lower Harrowden, boots slick with rain, heading to The Rusty Jug – Dandilon Daze are playing tonight, a gig where the air will be thick with smoke, cheap cider, and the hum of something lofi, raw and electric.…

I’m expanding the maps to include more of Harrowden’s locations – the Old Ashengrave Coal Power Station. This crumbling industrial behemoth, hidden behind layers of rust and decay, holds far more secrets than it first appears…

Is it really abandoned? Or does the Gildspoke Foundation still work its shadows here? New areas, new mysteries, and more to explore. Keep your eyes open, there’s something off about the power station, and we’re just starting to uncover it….

Leaked Document: The Gildspoke Foundation’s Research into Harrowden’s Cats

CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: SUBJECT – HARROWDEN’S FELINE POPULATION

Date: ██████████
Report ID: ██████████
Status: LEAKED

Summary:

The Gildspoke Foundation has been conducting covert research into the unusual and possibly anomalous behavior of Harrowden’s feline population, specifically focusing on the black cats that roam the lower districts.

Key Observations:

1. Unusual Markings: A higher-than-expected percentage of Harrowden’s black cats exhibit identical markings around their eyes, appearing as though they’ve been etched or tattooed into their fur.
2. Behavioral Patterns: These cats have been observed tracking individuals of interest, specifically those involved in ██████████. Their presence often coincides with critical moments of tension, such as ██████████ or clandestine meetings.
3. Unconfirmed Claims: Several unverified sources have suggested that the cats may be part of an ██████████ system ██████████. Their behavior may be linked to the presence of ██████████ or ██████████ in Harrowden’s history.

Recommendations:

• Further covert monitoring of the feline population is advised, particularly near locations of ██████████.
• Investigation into the historical significance of black cats within Harrowden’s is recommended for future understanding.
• Potential avenues for utilizing these creatures as ██████████ tools should be explored.

End of Report