R. Ring

R. Ring emerged from the partnership between Kelley Deal and Mike Montgomery, weaving fuzzed-out rock, melancholy Americana, and experimental arrangements into songs marked by catchy yet mercurial turns. While Deal balanced commitments with the Breeders and Protomartyr, and Montgomery managed Candyland Recording Studio alongside his guitar duties in the post-rock outfit Ampline, the pair developed their raw yet nuanced approach across the 2017 release Ignite the Rest before shifting toward greater polish and moodier atmospheres on the 2023 album War Poems, We Rested.

Their paths crossed in 2010 after Deal received an invitation to contribute to a Guided by Voices tribute album. Her backing band Buffalo Killers pointed her toward Montgomery’s Candyland studio in Cincinnati, which he would later relocate to Dayton, Kentucky—an incidental geographic echo of Deal’s own Dayton, Ohio base. When Montgomery later asked her onstage during one of his opening sets, the two began collaborating in earnest. Their early output included the 2012 single “Salt,” which served as the theme for vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s online series Make It Vegan, as well as the Misra-issued Fallout & Fire/SEE that same year. Also in 2012 they issued a cover of Devo’s “Mr. DNA” in a run of just 100 copies housed inside grip-tape-covered wooden blocks. The Rise EP followed in 2013 to mark their inaugural European tour.

The duo resurfaced in 2015 via two split singles: July brought Pussy Peril, a Sofa Burn release shared with Quailbones, while A Half of Seven, featuring Protomartyr, appeared the same month. Material from these releases fed into R. Ring’s debut album, Ignite the Rest, which Sofa Burn issued in April 2017 and augmented with contributions from cellist Lori Goldston and drummer Laura King of Bat Fangs/Speed Stick.

Shortly after that album’s release, Montgomery and Deal began shaping its successor. Seeking to move beyond the debut’s relatively straightforward textures, they composed in the studio with King, rejoined Goldston, and brought in vibraphonist Joe Suer. Deal’s touring schedule with Protomartyr and Montgomery’s ongoing work at Candyland slowed the sessions, yet the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic afforded extra time to refine the tracks. The resulting War Poems, We Rested surfaced in January 2023 on Don Giovanni; a limited edition included a chapbook of poems by Sadie Dupuis, Lee Ranaldo, and award-winning poet and music writer Hanif Abdurraqib, among others.