Ron Gallo – “Checkmate” (Video)

Love at the End of the World: Ron Gallo’s “Checkmate” Hits Like a Final Answer

Ron Gallo is back with checkmate, his newest album due October 17th via Kill Rock Stars, and he’s kicking it off with the raw and heartfelt title track “Checkmate.” It’s part love letter, part existential scream into the void—somehow gentle, vulnerable, and full of emotional static at the same time.

Written on the very last day of tracking the record, “Checkmate” showed up fully formed. Gallo calls it (sorta seriously) the “best love song ever written.” And if you know his vibe—half Zen prophet, half punk court jester—you’ll get how that contradiction works. The song distills big questions into a few honest lines: What do you cling to when everything around you is crumbling? What matters when the world feels like it’s in freefall? For Gallo, the answer is love. Real, flawed, deep-down human love.

The album as a whole strips things down to their core—sometimes just voice and guitar—eschewing his usual chaos for something quieter, but no less intense. These are songs about holding hands during collapse, about tenderness as resistance, and about trying to stay soft in a world that rewards sharp edges.

Gallo’s longtime partner Chiara not only helped shape the sound (she’s all over the record musically), but inspired it. From Italy to Nashville, the songs examine modern burnout (“Too Tired To Love You”), the weird gap between fantasy and reality (“Fantasy”), and even imagine talking a gunman down with words (“Gun To My Head”). “Trampoline,” a live-take elegy for Gallo’s cousin Garry, closes the record on a bittersweet note.

Meanwhile, Ron’s 7AM Songs of Resistance project—quick-hit musical reactions to America’s political chaos—has gone viral more than once, earning shoutouts from SZA, Kathleen Hanna, Moby, Hozier, and Mark Ruffalo. But checkmate isn’t Twitter-reactive. It’s personal. It’s reflective. It’s heavy and hopeful at the same time. And yeah, it might make you cry a little.

New Album checkmate Out October 17th  via Kill Rock Stars

Ron Gallo Live
Sept 3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Rooftop
Sept 6 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Bond St. Block Party
Sept 19 – Nashville, TN @ Musicians Corner
Oct 19 – NYC @ Noise For Now Benefit