Please watch the above video and read on to take a deep dive into the makings of a song called “Playful Creatures in the Shallows of the Sand”
Every day I spend at HOTA, Home of the Arts, I am in the presence of the Nerang River (Ngarang-wal) as it snakes around Evandale Park. Part of my practice has been to sit by the river, observe its environment and write down my thoughts and ideas, both on paper and with my guitar.
Early this year, my then 14 yr old daughter Jonquil took a day off school to come with me to work. She was feeling the stress of the new year and needed a day away from school and friends. She was in a particularly melancholic mood.
At the time I was sketching out a songwriting workshop based on my creative practise and thought it was a perfect chance to pilot my ideas with Jonquil.
So, We switched on our five senses and took a walk around Evandale Park, visiting a number of spots along the way.
We explored under the bridge, a sandy mangrove bay, the tip of Evandale Park that looks out to Surfers Paradise and a drain that allows water to flush through the swimming lake in the middle of the park.
We went up to the Art Gallery to poke around, especially at the Gold Coast collection. We talked about what we saw, heard and noticed and made mental notes of our observations.
We made our way back to the bridge and each wrote a page of ideas and words with our little field trip front of mind.
We then attempted to write lyrics for a song with what we had written and observed.
Jonquil came up with a great line that I really liked
Playful Creatures
In the shallows underneath
And another
Streams of sorrow ripple
with every passing ferry
I love the mix of words that are both playful and sad, yet present with the environment.
So later that day I took Jonquil’s words and played around with them
This is what I came up with..
Playful Creatures
In the shallows of the sand
Black tipped fish tails
Midday shadows
I see clearly
Underneath a bridge so sad
Immediately this verse hinted at something musical. Its natural phrasing was crying out for a melody and as soon as I picked up the guitar the melody formed around a simple chordal movement in open D tuning.
This is my first Iphone audio recording of the idea.
I thought this verse was the beginning of a longer, more complex song, but every attempt so far to write a second verse has failed….so currently this is just a one verse song. I think I am happy with that.
Just last week I let my kids take their last day off school and bought them both to HOTA for the day. I took them out on a field recoding trip to collect some underwater sounds with my Hydrophone.
The sound at the beginning of the song in the video is taken from these recordings the kids made. The snap, crackle and pops you hear are all the little creatures in the shallows of the water. It is a noisy world down there.
We then went back to my workspace and recorded the song. I played the guitar whilst Jonquil sung. I then did a few overdubs of my own vocals and that was it. Super simple, but effective.
This song is still a work in progress, although I am not sure I will change much now.
One thing I would like to do is to play this recording through a speaker underwater and record it with my hydrophone. I wonder what that might sound like? Be sure to listen to this song when it is released and you might just hear what it sounds like underwater.
I am super proud of Jonquil for co/writing and singing this song. I hope she will continue to write songs that reflect her unique observations of the world.
Using the space around HOTA as creative inspiration and as a place to record has been integral to my workflow in this project. I want the environment to seep into my songs as much as possible.
Here, we are surrounded by the built environment that is shaped by the natural. It is where the two harmonize and where the two clash against each other.
It is the heart of the Gold Coast.
Playful Creatures in the Shallows of the Sand