“Rodrigo y Gabriela has a hard act to follow every time they release an album: themselves…Mettavolution closes with a 19-minute version of “Echoes,” Pink Floyd’s rock masterpiece famously performed live in an ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii, Italy. Like its masterful catalog, Rodrigo y Gabriela gives the music new life with just two guitars.”
“With a relentless and thought-out counterpoint of rhythm and melody that renders percussion(and vocals) unnecessary, Rodrigo and Gabriela’s signature acoustic sound,grounded on heavy metal influences, is virtuoso rock ‘n roll.”
ATO Records is excited to announce that the new Rodrigo y Gabriela record is out today. The duo’s first album in five years, METTAVOLUTION marks the most ambitious music of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s remarkable two-decade career and is one of NPR‘s top 6 albums of the week. Three years in the making, the LP embraces the duo’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. The new single, “Electric Soul,” was added to Spotify’s “New Music Friday” playlist.
LISTEN TO “ELECTRIC SOUL”
Mettavolution? “Metta” is a Sanskrit word for the meditative condition that produces compassion and benevolence. It is a “practical state of mind” as well, according to Gabriela, “something you practice like an instrument to become a better citizen, in a more evolved place.” Conceived and composed in their studio in Ixtapa on the Mexican Pacific Coast, the music of METTAVOLUTION was road-tested around the world on tour in 2017 and 2018 before being recorded late last year in Los Angeles with multiple GRAMMY-winning producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, LCD Soundsystem, A Perfect Circle, Band of Horses) behind the board.
METTAVOLUTION gathers six white-hot new Rodrigo y Gabriela compositions – much of which acknowledge the duo’s thrash-metal roots back in Mexico City – as well as an inspired, side-long cover of Pink Floyd’s sprawling “Echoes” – originally found on 1971’s MEDDLE – audaciously reimagined for two acoustic guitars. Rolling Stone recently hailed the 19-minute epic as a “Song You Need to Know,” noting, “‘Echoes’ is such a signature song, it’s hard to imagine anyone else doing it justice, yet somehow the Mexican acoustic-rock duo Rodrigo y Gabriela landed on a brilliant interpretation…Like the original, the song is its own journey, and it’s beautiful.”
LISTEN TO “ECHOES”
The title track and first single, “Mettavolution” is currently #25 at Triple A radio. Rodrigo y Gabriela performed it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with dance choreography by David Byrne collaborator Annie-B Parson.
WATCH “METTAVOLUTION” ON JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!
courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Rodrigo y Gabriela also performed the title track this week on BBC TV’s The One Show to More than five million viewers.
WATCH “METTAVOLUTION” ON THE BBC
With career album sales now in excess of 1.5 million worldwide, Rodrigo y Gabriela have undoubtedly established themselves as the planet’s preeminent acoustic guitar duo, earning international acclaim and a fervent fan following with their awe-inspiring mastery of their instruments as well as a truly distinctive approach to melody, energy, and rhythm.
One of the world’s most in-demand live acts, Rodrigo y Gabriela have spent much of their remarkable 20-year career performing on increasingly larger stages around the globe. Highlights include sold out shows at such legendary venues as New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, Los Angeles, CA’s Hollywood Bowl, Morrison, CO’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, London’s Royal Albert Hall, and Paris, FR’s Le Zenith, along with countless other theaters and concert halls in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.
RODRIGO Y GABRIELAON TOUR 2019
APRIL27 – Chamonix, FRANCE – Musilac Mont Blanc *
MAY4 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at the Moody Theater5 – Memphis, TN – Beale Street Music Festival *15 – Boston, MA – Orpheum Theatre17 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall18 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre19 – Ridgefield, CT – The Ridgefield Playhouse21 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount23 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit24 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre
JUNE1 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre2 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium4 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheatre5 – Charlottesville, VA – Sprint Pavilion7 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap8 – Cleveland, OH – LaureLive *9 – Grand Rapids, MI – Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater
JULY3 – Montreal Jazz Fest – Montreal, Canada *5 – Ottawa Bluesfest – Ottawa, ON *9 – Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua – Bayfield, WI10 – Fargo, ND – Fargo Theatre12 – Missoula, MT – The Wilma13 – Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery – Woodinville, WA14 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theater16 – Troutdale, OR – Edgefield Amphitheater18 – Jacksonville, OR – Britt Pavillion21 – Saratoga, CA – The Mountain Winery23 – Los Angeles, CA – The Greek Theater24 – San Diego, CA – Humphreys Concerts By The Bay26 – Reno, NV – Harrah’s Reno, The Plaza27 – Park City, UT – Deer Valley Resort28 – Denver, CO – Denver Botanic Gardens
* FESTIVAL APPEARANCE
www.rodgab.com/tour-dates
CONNECT WITH RODRIGO Y GABRIELA: