With their much–anticipated new album Mettavolution due for release 26th April via Rubyworks / BMG, and having last month shared the track Echoes, Mexican acoustic rock guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela today reveal the LP’s title track. “Metta” is a Sanskrit word for the meditative condition that produces compassion and benevolence. It is also a “practical state of mind”, according to Gabriela, “something you practice like an instrument to become a better citizen, in a more evolved place.”
Three years in the making, Mettavolution brings together Rod and Gab’s passionate interest in Buddhism, the history of human evolution and the liberation of the potential we have as a species; all expressed through the medium of two acoustic guitars. Conceived and composed in their studio in Ixtapa on the Mexican Pacific Coast, then road-tested in South America and the USA in 2017, before more fine tuning and further tweaks on their Australian tour of 2018, a long list of new material has been distilled down to six new Rodrigo y Gabriela compositions and one audacious, jaw-dropping cover version.
Ahead of the release of Mettavolution Rodrigo y Gabriela will be performing throughout Europe including a London Roundhouse show for which there are now just a few tickets remaining and a Dublin show which sold out in a few days. Dates/info below:
Saturday 13th April – Munich – Technikum
Sunday 14th April – Warsaw - Progresja
Monday 15th April – Berlin – Columbia Theater
Wednesday 17th April – Bourges – Printemps de Bourges
Thursday 18th April – Luxembourg – den Atelier
Friday 19th April – Brussels – Cirque Royal
Sunday 21st April – Dublin – Olympia Theatre **(SOLD–OUT)**
Wednesday 24th April – London – Roundhouse
Thursday 25th April – Paris – Olympia
Saturday 27th April – Chamonix – Musilac Mont Blanc
Deep-rooted fans who discovered Rod and Gab through their 2006 self-titled breakout album have long recognized the Mexicans’ mastery of their instruments. And Rodrigo’s shimmering, hummingbird flourishes hovering over Gabriela’s extraordinary engine room rhythm section are present and correct on ‘Mettavolution’; but what sets this new record apart is the laser-guided focus on melody, energy and beat. There is not an ounce of excess baggage on the fresh, dynamic tunes that Rod and Gab present here.
A white-hot side one that acknowledges the duo’s thrash-metal roots back in Mexico City gives way to an incredible new arrangement of Pink Floyd’s ‘Echoes’, inspiringly reimagined for two acoustic guitars.
Rodrigo and Gabriela: “We are big Pink Floyd fans. That track, specially the live in Pompeii version means a lot to us, we even made a huge visual reference in our video for ‘Hanuman’. Besides that, the lyrics are even more relevant now than they were 45 years ago, the search for knowledge about ourselves, it’s becoming a key element for survival these days, that’s what evolution is all about at the end of the day.”
On working with noted producer Dave Sardy, the guitarists add: “Everything was ready for it, all the circumstances around the idea of agreeing to work with a producer came together right at the time we talked to Sardy. And our intuition was right. We talked to a lot of great producers before him but the conditions just weren’t there. When we talked to Dave it just felt we had arrived.” Recorded in Los Angeles, Sardy, - best-known for his work with Oasis, LCD Soundsystem, A Perfect Circle and Fall Out Boy - has helped Rod and Gab to a new recording career pinnacle.
Through relentless touring and terrific word-of-mouth support, Rodrigo y Gabriela have established themselves as a hugely in-demand live act, particularly in America, where they sold out the Hollywood Bowl (two nights) and the Red Rocks Amphitheatre as recently as summer 2018. They have also sold out multiple nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Le Zenith in Paris and Radio City Music Hall in New York, not to mention venues in Australia, Japan and Europe. With career album sales well in excess of 1.5 million worldwide, Rodrigo y Gabriela have established themselves as globally successful artists who are eager to write new chapters in their already illustrious story.
Mettavolution will be released 26th April via Rubyworks / BMG and is available to preorder here. Album artwork below:
