Ruby Of Thanks :: Before You Turn Into A Dog
Photo: Sara S. Wallach
For the better part of a decade, Kingston, New York-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andy Weaver has conjured the blissful sights and sounds of his beloved project Ruby Of Thanks since the release of his debut album back in 2019. Representing the state’s first capital, established in 1777 during a pivotal turning point in the Revolutionary War, Weaver’s melodic motions into the universal unknown weave in and out of the seasons like some shapeshifting soldier. If you listen closely to the frozen soil, you can still hear the effortless exchange of gunfire from Brown Bess muzzle-loading smoothbore muskets and blows landed by the sharp, silvery sabers wielded by officers as they charged into battle, never looking back. After the second reissue of his captivating classic “In Another World”, it was obvious that the legends of Hudson Valley, Woodsist, would release his sprawling sophomore album “Before You Turn Into A Dog” after taking great interest in Weaver’s music. Sometimes things make sense, and this creative collaboration is one of those sonic situations where two melodic minds come together in a collective effort to communicate with the weird winds that attempt to penetrate the roots of our hair on a soft Saturday evening or a meditative morning atop a hillside someplace serene. A fourth-generation New Yorker, Weaver quickly returns to the scene of a creative crime after a much-deserved interest in his 2020 masterpiece, only to capture the eager ears of listeners like never before with the serene sounds of his sophomore album. While contemplating life’s melodic mission on the biblical banks of the Hudson River, Weaver lights a calm candle; the soothing steam from a cup of chamomile eases the tensions of the day as the warm undertones of the album can be heard playing from a distant room as the grooves hum like a carefully calculated chant throughout the hand-painted hallways of someplace sacred.
“Hopefully it captures some spirit of creation. The idea of songwriting as a way to process events and create peace at home by working with your hands, making things. Self-recording as a response to capitalism in art.”
While all the contents of the album were, of course, written by Weaver in the comfort of his home, as well as in the creative climates of Catskill and Cairo, a rural town located in Greene County at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains near Albany, the songwriter was joined by fellow musicians Dan Stern, Keven Lareau, Noah Harley, Sean Cronin, Jonnie Baker, and Alex Wernquest in order to capture those unique universes of tonal texture, and atmospheric anatomy that have become a sonic staple in Weaver’s world. Featuring tracks like “Chapstick,” “Papers,” “Shadow,” one of the album’s first singles, and “Dandelion Street”, the poetic philosophy embedded in the feverish fibers of "Before You Turn Into A Dog” strikes this chord that continuously rings the familiar vibrations of Mount Eerie without hinting at that enviable worship that some artists simply can not avoid when harnessing their craft. Ruby Of Thanks is an entirely different island of intimate importance where brave boats dock with ancient anchors just before the sun sets off in the distance, only to reveal that poetic patience pays off in the end for those who seek its practice in a time of need. Mixing by Weaver himself with the aid of Alex P. Wernquest, and mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk, the album is set for release in mid-September on Woodsist just in time for the great seasonal change.
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