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About the album
RED GOLD is the 2024 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” said Fletch.
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.
Credits
Respectfully acknowledging the Kombumerri People of the Yugambeh Language Group on whose country this project was inspired and created. And a special shoutout to all the birds, insects and creatures who contributed to these songs.
Fletcher Babb aka Cold Ghost – Nylon Stringed Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Concert and Bass Flutes, Glockenspiel, Organ, Piano, Hohner Erica, Melodica, Ukulele, Percussion, Sound Design.
Jake Morton – Sensory Percussion, Cymbals and Sound Design
Daniel Booth and Ben Dougherty – Electric Guitars
Andrew Tuttle – Banjo
Jonquil Babb – Vocals
The Babb Family Singers (Banquo, Jonquil and Bern) – Backing Vocals
Recorded in the basement of HOTA, Home of the Arts, Surfers Paradise and at Traffic or the Waves, Burleigh Heads. All field recordings from the waterway environments of Yugambeh country, weaving from the mountains to the sea. Red Gold was recorded on Little Nerang Creek at Neranwood (thanks for the adventure Courtney). Many thanks to Asheligh Wheeler and Wesley Enoch for helping this project come to life.
Mixed at Traffic or the Waves, Burleigh Heads by Fletcher Babb
Mastered at Serotonin Productions by Fletcher Babb w/Jake Morton
All songs by Cold Ghost
* Twin Creeks w/ Andrew Tuttle
* Playful Creatures in the Shallows of the Sand w/ Jonquil Babb
A Tonal Gap Record
The development of this album was supported by HOTA, Home of the Arts through HOTA’s ArtKeeper Program
The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and the City of Gold Coast to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland
Cold Ghost 