On January 24 ATO Records will release the next studio album from Rodrigo y Gabriela. Rather than the standard duo format however, on Area 52 the pair are joined by a 13 piece Cuban orchestra. These musicians, collectively known as C.U.B.A join in on 9 songs that Rod and Gab have selected from their own catalogue of music. Recording legend Peter Asher James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt. Bonnie Raitt) has produced the new disc.

As for the album’s title, Rodrigo explains, “The album is called Area 52 because we felt like Mulder and Scully approaching this — it was just a crazy idea, to see if a big Cuban band could play our music, a step in the dark. We knew it was out there, everyone has heard of Area 51, but we wanted to take it a little further,” says. “We saw it as a trip into the unknown, an experiment,” he continues. “Okay we knew the producer, and had spoken to the arranger on Skype; but we didn’t know the musicians or the studio, or Cuba for that matter.”