David Ramirez’s new album, My Love Is a Hurricane, which was written and recorded pre-pandemic, was originally intended to be a collection of love songs celebrating his longtime girlfriend. But toward the end of the album-making process, they abruptly split up. Rather than chronicle his heartbreak, he challenged himself to continue to focus the album’s songs on hope and positivity.

“Thankfully we’ve reconciled since and I think now that a lot of what I wrote about I might not have been ready to really listen to myself until the breakup,” says Ramirez, who was raised in Houston and now lives in Austin. “I needed to learn how to actively love someone. And it’s very appropriate for the times. Love is active, it’s not just a feeling. I’ve seen a lot of that going around right now, people intentionally and actively loving each other.”

Even so, Ramirez told Texas Monthly that there was some internal debate within his business team as to whether to release My Love Is a Hurricane—his fifth full-length record—during the pandemic. But Ramirez said that even without the ability to tour, the timing felt right to him. He believes the album has a certain immediacy now that he couldn’t have predicted pre-pandemic.

“I felt it was important at a time when there was so much confusion, stress, frustration, and loss to put something out in the world that’s positive,” he says. “Hopefully it helps in some small way.”

In our Sound Check session, recorded in Ramirez’s backyard, he performs a pair of tunes from My Love Is a Hurricane: the title track and “Easy Does It.”

Join us via Facebook Live on Tuesday, August 25, at 4 p.m. for our summer season’s final episode—a performance from Los Coast. You can find previously published videos at texasmonthly.com/videos.