Seeing a car crash can be a really confronting experience. As the survivor of a pretty gnarly one, I remember so vividly how it felt sitting on the side of the road as people buzzed around. I was numb and the rest of the world seemed to melt away. I was conscious of it, but totally disconnected from it. It takes some time to process, and that’s exactly what Ruby Gill has done in their latest single “Carol / not carol.” Ruby and her wife co-wrote this song to process the way they felt after arriving first on the scene at a car crash on the Nullarbor.
“This song started with us trying to process the car crash – the injuries, the playing cards strewn all over the tar, the couple and what they’d lost – but it soon became about me as well, facing myself in the rearview mirror and why I’ve spent so many years escaping my life, family and community, and what being away really does to a person,” Ruby explained.
“Ultimately, it’s about over-compensating for pain, about taking things for granted, about the community and kindness of strangers out on the road/in Australia, and about regret. It’s also a little bit about shame and struggling to be vulnerable, especially for older men who need to act brave, and lesbians like me who have emulated that too much in their lives.”
“Carol / not carol” comes from Ruby’s new album Fishing is Not About Fishing, which drops on October 16. You can preorder your vinyl copy on its own or bundled with some other goodies from Sound Merch. Ruby will play the following shows supporting #1 Dads following its release.
28 October 2026 – Season Three, Meeanjin/Brisbane
30 October 2026 – Bellingen Golf Club, Baalijin/Bellingen
31 October 2026 – Lela’s, Yaegl and Yaygirr Country/Yamba
Photo credit: Bridgette Winten