Ryan Beatty Returns With Sobering Single ‘Ribbons’ From New Album ‘Calico’

Dreaming of David, the album Ryan Beatty released in the early weeks of 2020, featured a bold declaration on the single “Patchwork,” where he promised: “This is not my last masterpiece/I am Michelangelo.” Three years later, the 27-year-old singer and songwriter is following through on his word. On April 28, Beatty will release his third studio album, Calico.

The first preview of the album, the newly released single “Ribbons,” is a sobering snapshot of a late night in California bleeding into the early hours of the next morning. The song, built around an airy piano melody, searches for understanding through observation. “And suddenly, you’re older/Spinnin’ the turnstile over and over,” he sings. “Who’s gonna hold you whilе you sleep/It’s brave to be nothin’ to no one at all.”

In lieu of issuing a statement about the record, Beatty shared a poem that captures the essence of its contents.

“What started as a night became a morning under the southern sun/Became a citrus kiss became a crickets click became a cows howl behind the slaughterhouses door,” he wrote. “You spun the car keys took your shirt off chewed two apples to the core turning red turning west/Tipping the switchblade to Roswell trucking through Tucson my California called us in the distance/I saw your shadow i bared your cross i felt your heart I tasted your tongue in my teeth and/It became the perfect carnage of my feelings for you.”

Recorded between Valentine Recording Studios and Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La, Calico features contributions from Dylan Day, Matt Chamberlain, Sam Gendal, Rob Moose, and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.

“I’ll save my monologue for another day,” Beatty wrote on Instagram. “But for now you should know that I’m smiling.”