Award-winning Tucson, Arizona-based duo Ryanhood is thrilled to announce their latest album, Under The Leaves, set for release on April 16th. American Songwriter announced the upcoming LP with the premiere of lead single “The Fight.”
“The more we fight, the more we invigorate the thing we’re fighting against. And without knowing it, the more we as people eventually become the kind of thing we’re fighting against,” Ryanhood vocalist and lyricist Cameron Hood told American Songwriter about the song’s premise of cultural scapegoating. “It’s not about telling another person or group how they should be processing their fears or hurts differently,” he continues. “It’s about noticing how you do it. It has to start with you… with me.” Hood drew inspiration from the likes of French historian René Girard and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Martin Luther King, Jr., and even Psalm 46. The message is intelligent but never pretentious, and shines against the backdrop of bandmate Ryan David Green’s intricate guitar work and arrangement.
“‘The Fight’ and its intellectualism is a strange though perfectly complementary companion to its mainstream indiepop sensibility,” says American Songwriter. “While the rhythm clutches the primal hunger for melodicism, the subject matter challenges you to reach in deep and ponder what it takes to achieve peace, eventually encircling the truth that change can only come from within.”
Named ‘Best Group/Duo’ in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards, Ryanhood got their first break more than a decade ago as street-performers at Boston’s Quincy Market. They’ve since gone on to perform more than a thousand shows in 45 U.S. states over the past decade, and have shared stages with Jason Mraz, Matt Nathanson, Train, and many more.
Their latest album, Under the Leaves, sees the lead guitarist Green stepping into the role of sole producer, weaving a tapestry of lush strings and rich harmonies. The album, like their shows, is driven by strong acoustic guitar performances and is at turns energetic, hopeful, and quietly moving—a musical invitation to breathe, and to soak in a river of melodies and harmonic hooks.
Hood, the band’s primary lyricist, has waded into those musical rivers with dream-like verses about seeds and forests, breath and wind, and the cycles and seasons that frame our lives. Throughout the album’s songs, a question is asked: How do we create meaningful and lasting change in a world filled with division and turmoil? The offer on Under the Leaves is to slow down and face the one thing we have the power to change – ourselves – as the duo sings on the album’s second track, “the only revolution is the one within.”
Under The Leaves will be available digitally, as well as on vinyl and CD. The band has also written a companion book, featuring essays and stories behind the songs, expanded artwork, and photography that is also available for purchase. Click HERE to order.
