– Tickets to Gold Coast and Brisbane launches on sale now
RED GOLD is the intoxicating new album from singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and sound designer, Cold Ghost. Through stories and observations, real and imagined, it explores the flow of the Nerang River and Gold Coast waterways and was developed as part of an eight-month arts residency at HOTA, Home of the Arts.
RED GOLD incorporates extensive field recordings including local birds, drainpipes, cars on bridges, the brush of casuarina branches, clanging waterfront council signs, underwater creatures and more. This sound design, along with Cold Ghost’s alt-folk songwriting style, has produced a catalogue of songs which reflect the history, stories and flow of the city’s largest river.
“Throughout the residency, I explored the spaces and places around the creeks, rivers and canals collecting audio recordings and visual footage as well as written observations. There were trips to waterfalls and the coastline as well the many canals which are their own urban thoroughfare of this city,” said Cold Ghost (aka Fletcher Babb). “Water is at the heart of the Gold Coast and the tension between the natural flow and the built environment is ever present – my songs celebrate and challenge this city, that’s renowned as a tourism mecca but is also a place of natural beauty that many call home.”
Fletch relished the challenge of wearing multiple hats to complete this project including all recording, mixing and mastering. The album is also a true family affair with his daughter Jonquil co-writing a song (Playful Creatures in the Shallows of the Sand) and his wife and two children on backing vocals. RED GOLD also features experimental banjo player, Andrew Tuttle who co-wrote the improvised track “Twin Creeks” with Fletch and a butcher bird.
Artist Statement:
“RED GOLD is my chance to be an explorer, inhabiting known places and discovering new ones, feeling the history of this river and bringing it to life through lyrics, music and sound. I created my own songwriting process, soaking up these waterways and painting the tracks with sonic textures that connect the listener, not only to this place, but anywhere a river flows.”
EVENTS:
What: Album Launch GOLD COAST
Where: Panorama Room, HOTA
When: Sunday 14 April from 3.54pm
Tickets: https://hota.com.au/whats-on/live/gigs/red-gold-album-launch
What: Album Launch BRISBANE
Where: It’s Still a Secret (ISAS) 48 Montague Road, South Brisbane
When: Sunday 21 April @ 5.30pm
Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/cold-ghost-red-gold-album-launch
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