Rodrigo y Gabriela’s new album cycle opens with the kind of collaboration that rarely happens by accident. The GRAMMY-winning duo have announced OurHome, arriving September 18 via ATO Records, and the first single, “Monster,” comes with a video created by Naoki Urasawa, one of the most influential manga artists of the modern era.
For listeners who know Urasawa’s work, that detail changes the temperature of the release immediately. Urasawa is the creator of Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto, and Master Keaton, with over 140 million copies of his work sold worldwide. His involvement gives “Monster” an unusually strong visual and literary frame, especially because the song itself was inspired by his psychological thriller Monster.
Rodrigo y Gabriela have always treated the guitar as a cinematic instrument, so the connection makes sense once the music starts. “Monster” has a restless, tightly coiled quality, driven by the duo’s familiar acoustic precision but shaded with a darker emotional palette. It does not feel like a soundtrack cue. It feels like two musicians trying to translate the moral tension of a story into movement.
Gabriela Quintero has described Urasawa’s Monster as both philosophically deep and unexpectedly hopeful, despite its story of a psychopathic killer. That duality gives the track its shape. The guitars carry anxiety, but they also carry momentum. The song keeps pushing forward, as if refusing to stay trapped inside its own darkness.
The story behind the video adds to the appeal. Urasawa was already a fan of Rodrigo y Gabriela, having discovered their live performance videos and collected their records. When he learned that they had written a piece inspired by Monster, the connection moved quickly from admiration to collaboration. The completed video now feels like a response from the original creator to the music his work helped spark.
That exchange also fits the larger world of OurHome. Recorded in Japan and self-produced by Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero at NK Sound Tokyo, the album reflects the duo’s long-standing connection to the country’s art, ritual, beauty, and inwardness. Quintero has spoken about Japan as a place that encourages reflection and a return to what feels essential.
The record features an impressive group of collaborators, including former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman, Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi, cellist Hiyori Okuda, and guitarist-composer Yukihiro Atsumi. The credits suggest a wide-ranging album, but the early signs point toward a work grounded in the duo’s acoustic identity. After the more electric textures of In Between Thoughts…A New World, OurHome appears to bring Rodrigo y Gabriela closer to the physical sound that first made them so distinctive.
There is also a personal story beneath the album’s surface. After feeling creatively blocked, the duo found their way back into the process following the death of their studio cat, Pelusa. Sánchez wrote a song for her the next day, and the material began to flow. It is a small, human detail that helps explain why the album’s title does not feel abstract.
That title came later, during a walk in Melbourne after touring Japan and Australia. The duo saw a public housing tower with a sign reading “OUR HOME,” and Sánchez photographed it for the album cover. For Quintero, the phrase became connected to inner peace and self-acceptance rather than geography.
Rodrigo y Gabriela will bring OurHome to the road with a substantial North American tour this fall, including Austin City Limits, The Anthem in Washington, D.C., Bowery Ballroom in New York, The Castro Theatre in San Francisco, and The Moore Theatre in Seattle. Dates across Ireland, the U.K., and Europe follow in spring 2027.
“Monster” gives the album a strong first chapter because it carries a real story of artistic connection. The Urasawa collaboration will understandably draw attention, but the track earns that attention musically. It finds Rodrigo y Gabriela working within their core language while letting a new shadow pass across it.
