Australian singer, songwriter, and producer RY X is releasing his third studio album Blood Moon (BMG) on June 17 with a North American tour to follow in 2022.
Videos by American Songwriter
A follow up to his 2016 album Dawn and Unfurl in 2019, which led to more than 700 million streams worldwide, Blood Moon taps into more introspective storytelling.
Produced and written by RY X (Ry Cuming), one half of British electronic duo The Acid, along with co-writer Frank Weideman, who also worked with the artist on their Howling project, “Your Love” follows previous Blood Moon single “Let You Go” and explores the heavier ends of love—I couldn’t help the feelings / Cornered in the fading light / Underneath your weight here / Falling in your haunted eyes.
“‘Your Love’ was written about a connection carrying a breadth of intimacy and challenge as it swirled itself in repetition,” said RY X of the track, “a love with gravity that bled into the beauty and struggle of both, and one that wasn’t aligned to be—a cry of the heart in essence.”
He added, “It’s rare for me that a song almost writes itself, comes about into form all at once. This one did all in one afternoon. The production formed in the process of experimentation with drum machines and organic instruments and how they can blend together.”
In the video for “Your Love,” performed and choreographed by dancers Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal, along with director of photography Benjamin Hardman, the music moves through dance and a backdrop of imagery from Iceland.
Recorded in the Santa Monica Mountains of Topanga, California, and mixed by Nathan Boddy (James Blake) and Martin Buttrich, Blood Moon explores new soundscapes for RY X, partially inspired by the surrounding natural elements, while reflecting on intimate relationships that flesh out lyrically into feminine, spiritual, and self-discovery.
The album also features Icelandic artist Ólafur Arnalds on track “Colorblind,” a track the duo wrote together while RY X was filming in Iceland, with other contributions from fellow RY X bandmates Eric Price Rampa of Keinemusik, Gene Evaro Jnr., and post-classicist artist Niklas Paschburg.
Blood Moon also marks a time of creative solitude for the artist, who wrote, produced, and played nearly everything on the album.
“I think there’s a whole universe within the dynamic of your relationship with a lover,” says RY X. “There are many of those very honest, raw conversations on this record. It’s not all about the same person, but it is about the same feelings, the same concepts.”
RY X 2022 U.S. Tour Dates
Sept. 22 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
Sept. 23 – Detroit, MI – Russell Industrial Center
Sept. 24 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theater
Sept. 25 – Montreal, QC – Corona Theater
Sept. 28 – Boston, MA – The Royale
Sept. 29 – Washington DC – Sixth & I
Sept. 30 – Tivoli, NY – Kaatsbaan Cultural Park
Oct. 1 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
Oct 2 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
Oct. 4 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theatre
