Cold Blood Currency is Natasha Kitty Katt’s dark gothic homage to William Burke and William Hare, an aural descent into one of Edinburgh’s most chilling historical chapters. Inspired by grand theatricality and macabre elegance, the track inhabits the shadowy intersection of stage drama and dark history, where gothic spectacle collides with true crime to resurrect the sinister legacy of Burke and Hare through sound.
Opening with a dramatic piano motif and sweeping violin, the composition immediately establishes a sense of rising tension, like the lifting of a stage curtain before tragedy unfolds. This theatrical introduction draws listeners deep into its shadowy atmosphere before the rhythm fully takes hold.
A sharp, stabbing harpsichord drives the track forward, cutting through the arrangement with calculated unease and a growing sense of impending danger. Its sinister presence mirrors the cold brutality of Burke and Hare’s crimes, while each layer of production is crafted to feel tense, and quietly menacing.
Cold Blood Currency also marked a major creative turning point for Natasha Kitty Katt, becoming the first track she ever sang on. Working alongside Edinburgh collaborator George T, she was pushed to discover and embrace her voice, a moment that became a catalyst for the wider Auld Reekie Nocturne project. Adopting a darker, colder vocal tone to embody the subject matter, Natasha channels both character and dread throughout. “Night fall… another day in the death trade.”
