Rodrigo y Gabriela Announce OurHome With a First Single Built Around Moral Shadows
- Ignite
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Rodrigo y Gabriela’s OurHome announcement arrives with plenty of major details: a September 18 release date through ATO Records, recording sessions in Japan, collaborations with Marty Friedman and Hiromi, and a long tour schedule stretching from North America to Europe. Yet the most immediate point of fascination is “Monster,” the album’s first single and video.
The reason is Naoki Urasawa. The manga legend created the video for “Monster,” responding to a song Rodrigo y Gabriela wrote after being inspired by his own Monster. Urasawa’s career includes some of the most admired manga of the past several decades, including 20th Century Boys, Pluto, and Master Keaton, and his books have sold over 140 million copies worldwide.
This is the kind of collaboration that could have been treated as a novelty, but Rodrigo y Gabriela seem to understand the emotional weight of the source material. Urasawa’s Monster is a psychological story about evil, guilt, responsibility, and the fragile boundaries between ordinary life and horror. The duo’s track does not attempt to summarize that story. It circles the feeling instead.
“Monster” is darker than many casual listeners may expect from Rodrigo y Gabriela, though longtime fans will recognize the intensity. The guitars move quickly, but the song is less about speed than pressure. There is a sense of something being pursued, questioned, and maybe never fully answered.
That unresolved feeling may be why Urasawa’s involvement matters so much. His best-known works often resist simple moral binaries, and “Monster” seems to borrow that spirit. Quintero has called the manga “deep” and “philosophical,” pointing to its strange ability to leave her with hope despite its subject matter. The new song carries a similar tension between dread and lift.
Photo credit: Enrique Levya
The track also marks a new phase for Rodrigo y Gabriela after a creatively difficult period. OurHome emerged after the duo had spent time feeling blocked and uncertain at their studio in Ixtapa. The death of their beloved studio cat, Pelusa, became an unexpected turning point. Sánchez wrote a song for her, and the writing process began again with less pressure and greater instinct.
Japan became the place where that instinct took full shape. Recorded at NK Sound Tokyo, OurHome reflects the duo’s relationship with a country they associate with aesthetic attention, nature, introspection, and renewal. The Urasawa collaboration sits naturally inside that larger context, rather than functioning as an isolated headline.
The album’s guest list is carefully chosen. Marty Friedman, whose own connection to Japan has been central to his post-Megadeth life and work, appears on “Simurgh.” Hiromi, one of Japan’s most dynamic jazz musicians, appears on “Akatsuki.” Hiyori Okuda and Yukihiro Atsumi also contribute, helping create a record that appears to be in conversation with Japan musically as well as spiritually.
The title OurHome came from a sign on a public housing tower in Melbourne. During a walk after touring Japan and Australia, the duo saw the words “OUR HOME,” and the moment stuck. Sánchez’s photo of the building became the album cover, while the phrase became tied to Quintero’s idea of home as inner steadiness.
The upcoming tour gives the project a wide stage. Rodrigo y Gabriela will play Austin City Limits, Mexico City, The Anthem in Washington, D.C., Bowery Ballroom in New York, The Caverns in Tennessee, The Castro in San Francisco, and many additional stops before heading overseas for a lengthy 2027 run.
“Monster” suggests that OurHome will not be a simple comfort record, despite its title. It seems to be concerned with the work required to feel grounded in a chaotic world. By opening with Urasawa, Rodrigo y Gabriela have chosen a collaborator who understands that darkness and hope often live much closer together than people want to admit.
