Rodrigo y Gabriela Rediscover Their Center on OurHome
Nearly 25 years into their partnership, Rodrigo y Gabriela sound newly grounded on OurHome. The duo’s first album in three years returns to the expressive acoustic interplay that established their identity, but it does so with the perspective of musicians who have spent decades moving between countries, traditions, and creative phases. Recorded and self-produced at NK Sound Tokyo, the album treats home as an internal condition rather than a fixed point on a map.
That theme gives OurHome a clear emotional shape without forcing its 11 tracks into a rigid narrative. Grief, migration, manga, mythology, nature, and personal renewal all enter the picture, yet the album remains coherent because each subject leads back to questions of belonging. Japan provides much of the cultural and creative setting, but the record is ultimately concerned with what Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero carried away from their time there.
The title track establishes that reflective tone. Written by Sánchez following the death of the duo’s studio cat Pelusa, “OurHome” emerged after a period of creative frustration and became the composition that unlocked the rest of the record. Its origins give the album an intimate starting point, allowing a private experience of loss to lead into a wider consideration of connection and stability.
From there, Rodrigo y Gabriela expand their familiar two-guitar language through carefully chosen collaborations. Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi joins them on “Akatsuki,” where her energetic, percussive style aligns naturally with the duo’s physical approach to acoustic guitar. Former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman appears on the closing “Simurgh,” while cellist Hiyori Okuda and Kyoto-based guitarist Yukihiro Atsumi add further texture elsewhere on the album.
The most striking departure arrives early with “Somos Como Tú,” the first Rodrigo y Gabriela recording to feature their own lyrics and vocals. Sánchez takes the lead while Quintero contributes a rapid vocal passage, with hand percussion and a group of local singers adding communal momentum. After two decades of communicating instrumentally, the decision to use words could easily have felt like a novelty. Instead, it serves the album’s central concerns with unusual directness.
Photo credit: Enrique Levya
Originally written by Sánchez in Paris in 2015, “Somos Como Tú” addresses migration, displacement, dignity, and the common humanity shared by people living under vastly different circumstances. Its title translates as “We Are Like You,” a phrase that could have become overly declarative in a less thoughtful setting. Here, its placement within an album shaped by the duo’s own movement between Mexico, Ireland, Europe, Japan, and Ixtapa gives it personal weight.
Other tracks approach connection through stories and symbols rather than lyrics. “Monster,” inspired by Naoki Urasawa’s psychological manga, finds hope inside a morally complicated narrative, while its official video was created by Urasawa himself. “Akatsuki,” meanwhile, draws from Naruto and its ideas about rebirth, compassion, and the unstable line between hero and villain.
Mixed by Dave Sardy and mastered by Stephen Marcussen, OurHome shifts away from the electric emphasis of 2023’s In Between Thoughts…A New World. Acoustic guitars again form the record’s foundation, but piano, cello, electric guitar, percussion, and voices broaden the duo’s vocabulary. The result feels like a return made by artists who understand that renewal can come from examining their roots with changed eyes.
OurHome is available now via ATO Records. Rodrigo y Gabriela begin an extensive North American tour on September 30 in Dallas, followed by dates in Australia, Japan, Ireland, the U.K., and Europe. Complete dates and ticket information are available through the duo’s official tour page.
