It’s been a winding and unexpected journey towards artistic stardom for Ricky Montgomery. The Los Angeles-native first emerged in the mid 10’s, delivering a terrifically entertaining debut album, Montgomery Ricky, that boasted unavoidable hits like “Line Without a Hook” and “Mr. Loverman”. The following years saw Montgomery in and out of the release sphere, lending his nuance to collaborations with alongside a smattering of solo work.

This year has seen the singer-songwriter return, better than ever, with a sharpened musical identity and narrative direction. He has now announced the release of Rick, his sophomore project, a sprawling and emotional homage to his father, who sadly committed suicide 14 years ago. Over a decade in the making, this album is set to be a defining chapter in the career of Montgomery, fully coming into his own as an artist with depth, character and presence. The latest teaser from the LP, “Black Fins”, is a potent and poignant piece that reflects on his father’s death, lyrically mature and expressive, accompanied by a stunning, immersive visual.

On the road to the new album’s release, we caught up with Ricky himself, talking about his upbringing, his sound, and the creation and thought behind the highly anticipated sophomore effort.

Watch the visuals for “Black Fins”…

Read the interview…

Hey! How are you doing?
Hello! I’m very good.

When did you start creating music?
I’ve been making music since I was 14. Played my first bar gig that year and haven’t wanted to do anything else since.

How did your upbringing impact your artistry?
I didn’t have a ton of money or connections as a kid in a band, which probably gave me a permanent underdog complex. My home life was also pretty difficult. Not having any easy path to music but really *wanting* to make it in the music industry forced me to work really, really hard for everything I have. I think that’s manifested in a lot of perfectionism in the music for me, and probably a lot of intensity on stage.

How would you define your sound?
Post modern singer songwriter – I said that in a meeting one time and now it’s my go-to answer.

Congratulations on your upcoming album, Rick! When did you start working on this project?
Thank you! It’s tough to pin down because the songs were all started at different times. One of them goes all the way back to 2012. But as far as “actively working on my second album”… probably 2019.

It has been several years since your first album. What have you learned about yourself in this time?
That I am not able to quit music. I love it too much, and now I’m making up for all the time I’ve lost since that first album came out.

How does this new album represent a new era of your artistry?
It’s my major label debut, baby. I’ve never had so many resources. It’s the same vision as before, but now I’m older and wiser. This second album is me becoming a professional artist instead of being an aspiring one.

What were you listening to, reading, watching, etc, while working on this?
So many things – I’ll be putting out the inspiration playlist eventually so I can people a longer answer to this. But we constantly had this long form Radiohead video playing in the background of our recording sessions called Scotch Mist. It was a film they put out in 2007 from the In Rainbows sessions. We all felt really inspired by it every time we watched it, so we just kept going back to it. Other than that, my little brother edited together this several hour long video for us to play on a projector while we worked. It’s all these “beautiful moments” from movies edited together into one sequence. I don’t think I can post it anywhere without it being taken down, unfortunately, but that was huge for us. As for reading… I’m trying. But I’ll be honest, I cannot finish a book to save my life right now. I tried reading Klara And The Sun but only got a few pages in. Also I tried reading Crying in H Mart in preparation for the “Black Fins” rollout – I did finish a few chapters! But alas, I am horrible at doing books.

How did you select which singles to release before the album itself?
This was a group effort between me and my team. It was different for every song. Firstly, “Eraser” was a palette cleanser to differentiate the new sound from the old sound. That song always felt like the “first glimpse of the sound of the next album” to me as I was putting it together in the studio, and so I wanted the audience to have that same relationship with the song. “Don’t Say That” was just a fun one to bring us into the summer. Then, we knew we wanted to make a big moment out of “Black Fins”, so that one needed to come in the middle of the rollout.

Is there a song you’re particularly proud of?
“Black Fins” is the most vulnerable I’ve ever allowed myself to be with the world, so that’s always going to have a special place in my heart. Other than that, I’m currently really excited to put out “Sometimes I Need To Be Alone” and “Ethan’s Song”.

What are you most excited for with the release?
Honestly, I’m just so relieved and excited to have another album out there in the world. It’s taken me way too long to get here, even though I think I had good reasons for the wait. My fans have been so patient with me, and I really hope they think the wait was worth it.

Pre-save the album here.