“This album pulls you in deep with its fire and technical virtuosity,
but it also takes you on a journey…
you can feel the history in it, but it also feels very cutting edge.”
– NPR New Music Friday
Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuosos Rodrigo y Gabriela have announced today’s premiere of “Descending To Nowhere | A Take Away Show,” a new live performance video filmed at an empty Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris between two sold-out gigs last month and presented exclusively via La Blogothèque.
The original version of “Descending To Nowhere” is among the key moments on Rodrigo y Gabriela’s landmark new album, In Between Thoughts…A New World, available now via ATO Records. A special custom color deluxe 2xLP vinyl edition is available exclusively at www.rodgab.com, limited to 2,000 copies and featuring a translucent “Galaxy” custom-colored LP in a gatefold package alongside a bonus LP collecting all nine tracks from last year’s profoundly metaphysical Stages project on opaque “Galaxy” custom colored vinyl.
Rodrigo y Gabriela’s eagerly awaited follow-up to 2019’s GRAMMY® Award-winning Mettavolution and first full-length collection in four years, In Between Thoughts…A New World arrives as one of the duo’s most revelatory offerings yet – a spontaneously composed unified work primed to bring about the same expansion of consciousness that inspired its creation. Self-produced by Rodrigo y Gabriela at their studio in Ixtapa, Mexico, the album includes such singles as “The Eye That Catches The Dream,” “Egoland,” “True Nature” (recently added to added to Spotify US’s New Music Friday playlist), and the aforementioned “Descending To Nowhere.”
A #1 Most Added hit at Non-Com Radio outlets nationwide, “Descending To Nowhere” had its world premiere with an in-depth and illuminating “Origins” feature via Consequence and was quickly named by Paste as of one of “The 10 Best Songs of February 2023,” hailing it as “an irresistible groove that builds and ebbs as it showcases delicious electric licks and the promised orchestral swells.” An official music video, directed by acclaimed Mexican filmmaker/broadcaster Olallo Rubio, is streaming now on YouTube.
WATCH “DESCENDING TO NOWHERE” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
Rodrigo y Gabriela – who are set to perform on the new series of BBC Two’s Later… with Jools Holland, airing on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in June – are celebrating In Between Thoughts…A New World with a robust international touring schedule that began last month with a sold-out show at London, England’s historic Roundhouse. North American headline dates are currently underway and continue until early July. Highlights include special performances with 4x Grammy Award-winning drummer Antonio Sánchez at San Diego, CA’s Humphreys Concerts by the Bay (May 26-27), Los Angeles, CA’s YouTube Theatre (June 1), and Morrison, CO’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre (June 11), along with shows at such renowned venues as Nashville, TN’s Ryman Auditorium (June 19), Brooklyn, NY’s Kings Theatre (June 27), and Montreal, QC’s Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier | Place des Arts (July 1). Special guests include Krooked Kings (May 25-27), Bahamas (June 1-11), and Ondara (June 13-29). Additional dates will be announced soon. For complete details and ticket information, please visit www.rodgab.com/tour-dates.
RODRIGO Y GABRIELA
IN BETWEEN THOUGHTS…A NEW WORLD
THE 2023 TOUR
MAY
25 – Scottsdale, AZ – Virginia G. Piper Theater *
26 – San Diego, CA – Humphreys Concerts By The Bay + *
27 – San Diego, CA – Humphreys Concerts By The Bay + *
JUNE
1 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theatre + ^
2 – San Bernardino, CA – Yaamava’ Theater
3 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater ^
4 – Sacramento, CA – Mondavi Center @ UC Davis ^
7 – Portland, OR – McMenamins Grand Lodge ^
8 – Woodinville, WA – Chateau Ste Michel ^
10 – Salt Lake City, UT – Sandy Amphitheater ^
11 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre + ^
13 – Minneapolis, MN – Fitzgerald Theatre
14 – Madison, WI – Orpheum Theater ⁰
16 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre ⁰
17 – Detroit, MI – Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre ⁰
19 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium ⁰
20 – Atlanta, GA – Atlanta Symphony Hall ⁰
22 – Durham, NC – Carolina Theatre ⁰
23 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheater ⁰
24 – Washington, DC – The Atlantis ⁰ (SOLD OUT)
25 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club ⁰
27 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre ⁰
28 – Philadelphia, PA – Longwood Gardens ⁰ (SOLD OUT)
29 – Boston, MA – Chevalier Theater ⁰
JULY
1 – Montreal, QC – Montreal Jazz Fest, Salle Wilfrid–Pelletier | Place des Arts
2 – Niagara Falls, ON – Fallsview Casino Avalon Theatre
SEPTEMBER
25 – Hamburg, DE – Mojo Club
26 – Berlin, DE – Passionskirche
29 – Milan, IT – Santeria Toscana 31
30 – Bologna, IT – Estragon
OCTOBER
2 – Rome, IT – Auditorium Parco della Musica
5 – Oslo, NO – Rockefeller Music Hall
7 – Stockholm, SE – Södra Teatern
9 – Copenhagen, DK – Amager Bio
11 – Warsaw, PL – Palladium
16 – Dublin, IE – Vicar Street
17 – Belfast, UK – Ulster Hall
19 – Manchester, UK – Albert Hall
20 – Leeds, UK – O2 Academy
21 – Birmingham, UK – Town Hall
23 – London, UK – Palladium
24 – Paris, France – Philharmonie de Paris
25 – Lille, France – L’Aéronef
27 – Lausanne, CH – Théâtre de Beaulieu
29 – Utrecht, NL – Tivoli Vredenburg
30 – Brussels, BE – Cirque Royal
31 – Antwerp, BE – De Roma
NOVEMBER
2 – Nantes, FR – Stereolux
3 – Bordeaux, FR – Le Rocher De Palmer
5 – Toulouse, FR – Le Bikini
7 – Madrid, ES – Sala La Paqui
9 – Barcelona, ES – Razzmatazz 2
10 – Nimes, FR – Paloma
11 – Lyon, FR – Le Radiant
+ A Special Performance with Antonio Sanchez
* w/special guests Krooked Kings
^ w/special guests Bahamas
⁰ w/special guest Ondara
# # #
For over two decades, Rodrigo y Gabriela have created music that invites lasting transcendence, mesmerizing audiences across the globe with their virtuosic yet wildly inventive guitar playing. Critically lauded albums like 2019’s GRAMMY® Award-winning Mettavolution have seen the Mexico City-bred duo continually turning to musical expression as a form of spiritual searching, a journey that recently led to the making of their sixth studio album. Sparked from their study of Advaita Vedanta (a Hindu philosophy rooted in the concept of nondualism), In Between Thoughts…A New World emerged from a transformative period of spiritual awakening and a subsequent burst of unfettered creativity.
While recovering from Covid in the fall of 2020, Rodrigo stumbled upon the concept of nondualism – the notion that there is a “single, infinite, and indivisible reality, whose nature is pure consciousness, from which all objects and selves derive their apparently independent existence,” in the words of author/teacher Rupert Spira. He shared his findings with Gabriela, who felt a similar resonance. As they delved further into the philosophy, the duo began channeling this new sense of heightened awareness into song form.
“The music just started flowing out, without any real intention,” says Rodrigo. “When we looked back we realized we’d come up with nine songs that told the story of our coming to understand the Advaita path, in the exact perfect order. We didn’t change the foundation of the songs from that point, so what you hear on the album is the music as we were creating it.”
In a testament to the expressiveness and depth of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s musicality, In Between Thoughts wordlessly leads the listener through a complex narrative complete with plot, emotional arcs, and plenty of dramatic tension. Mixed by James Monti (The Who, The Head and the Heart) and mastered by Greg Calbi (Tame Impala, Beach House), the album marks a sharp departure from the duo’s signature acoustic sound, with Rodrigo trading his acoustic guitar for electric, adding a mercurial new energy elegantly amplified by the duo’s subtle use of analog synths, Mellotron, and other electronic instruments. Rodrigo y Gabriela also worked remotely with Vienna-based composer Adam Ilyas Kuruc and The Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, who ornamented the duo’s serpentine arrangements with lush strings and powerful percussion. Yet even as it pushes into uncharted sonic terrain, the album draws much of its power from the singular dynamic that’s always distinguished Rodrigo y Gabriela’s music, a delicate interplay between Gabriela’s potent and percussive strumming and Rodrigo’s breathlessly fast yet intricate lead guitar work.
Reflecting on the making of In Between Thoughts…A New World, Rodrigo y Gabriela are quick to note the charmed spontaneity that guided their process — an element that extends all the way to their serendipitous discovery of conceptual artist Jeremy Gluck, who created the album’s cover art and whose work is partly inspired by the teachings of the renowned Indian guru of nondualism Nisargadatta Maharaj.
“I think one of the main things we’ll take away from this experience is to let the music flow, let it live and breathe without judging it first,” says Gabriela.
“We didn’t work on this record thinking, ‘Let’s share this message with the world’ — we’re not interested in preaching anything,” says Rodrigo. “If it benefits people in any way to learn about this, then that’s wonderful. But for us it was a way to explore something that’s brought us a lot of peace and freedom – something that we love talking about because it’s changed our lives in an incredible way.”