Here’s the recent single ‘Weeds and Flowers’ from Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist JP Ruggieri. The well-shot video gives us a privileged glimpse of talented musicians at work, and Ruggieri is ably supported by smooth bass from Jordan Scannella, drums from Jano Rix, who also produced Ruggieri’s new record, and Michael Bellar on accordion. These fine collaborators add depth and texture to the music but at it’s heart are Ruggieri’s delicate performance and tender vocal delivery: “There’s nothing you can do to make her stay // You know weeds always grow and flowers go away.” It’s a sensitive song of heartache and resignation about the unravelling of a relationship.
The song is taken from Ruggieri’s brand new album ‘Gradually Descend Into Chaos’, which is out now. These songs of doubt, heartbreak and loss reflect a particularly challenging period in his life, including dealing with a rare, chronic pain condition that required brain surgery, suffering from Bell’s palsy, which damaged the hearing in his left ear, and the end of a relationship. He channeled all this heartache and pain into the music that would become his second album. Ruggieri says of ‘Gradually Descend Into Chaos’: “These eleven songs mostly came to me during a chaotic period of my life. I then recorded them a few years later when I was becoming obsessed with sound in a way that was completely new to me. Musically, this album represents coming to terms with various situations in my life. Production wise, this album represents a period of sonic exploration. The marriage of those two elements is what ‘Gradually Descend Into Chaos’ is all about.” Collaborators on the album include Jano Rix and Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers and Jarrod Dickenson and the result is a fine piece of work. The album acts like the carefully crafted answer to instability and uncertainty – a time of personal chaos.
Ruggieri is a technically gifted performer and multi-instrumentalist, who crafts subtle songs full of sonic and lyrical nuances. Across the new album, he blends folk, jazz and blues to create his own distinctive sound. Find out more here. Definitely one to check out.
