Welcome Songs by Ryan Pate

Welcome Songs was written on the verge of fatherhood. An improbable undertaking, composing began during the second trimester. Production is now complete; ten months into my first child’s life. I imagined this album as a way to welcome her to this world. While conjuring how to express this in a musical fashion, I kept circling back to the words “warmth and wonder.” I surmised, of course, with all of zero experience yet as a dad, that if I could help provide these two things, that perhaps seeds of a thriving childhood could be planted.

I hope that these musical passages translate warmth and wonder to listeners. They are qualities of music I’ve valued, and wisdom ties these qualities together. What parent wouldn’t want to pass on their experiences—a kind of guidebook to the cosmos for a little sprouted redwood tree? I’m proposing in jest that I actually do have knowledge to pass down—and yet, I have in earnest and for the first time written lyrics to accompany the music. While I feel this record is still very much instrumental, there are simple, fleeting messages which appear, hidden amongst the vines of orchestration in the middle of the songs.

As I look back on the making of this album, I view it as one process intertwined with another, which mirrors that of becoming a dad. It’s not all warmth and wonder. There has been plenty of trepidation about the mystery of this new footing I’m earning. Familiar to billions and novel to me, becoming a parent, while witnessing a smaller being-in-becoming in parallel, has helped me unearth growth and shed old pathways. These mysteries of unearthing and becoming have showed up in the music.

I’ve realized upon completion that this album is not only a father’s welcome for his child, but a time capsule of her dad’s thoughts, hopes, and fears during a wondrous time of transformation.

Some notes on the songs:
1. Hermes and Hiraya. Hermes is Hiraya’s grandfather. He is a Philippine botanist with an unfair level of
charisma. Though 91 years and the Pacific Ocean separate them, I dream of a kindred connection and a
shared love of plants between them.

2. Dream, Gentle Queen. My wife wrote lyrics about a team of gentle guinea pigs floating our daughter
away to a lively dreamland. I did my best to match the imagery sonically.

3. Days Begun. A few thoughts about the importance of listening. A bit like a harmonized lullaby amid a
chaotic luster.

4. Waiting for You. Who was I getting? Who is she now and ever becoming? I like to think she showed up
as the synth melody in the middle on this one: playful and determined.

5. A Gift in the Middle of it All. Floating on the timeline, this magic creature changes the trajectory. A
shifting five-note piano ostinato glues the colors together.

6. Name. The weighty deliberation about choosing one sound to describe a being made of stars. The
majestic lift of Aaron Kruziki’s clarinet sets the tone.

7. Keep the Magic. A good childhood has it. Hard to keep it as we go. Contrapuntal guitar part sections
bookend a middle section of a different time and place free of constraints.

8. A Simple Thought for Peace. A meditation on doing what you can do. Three-part harmony for slide
guitars.

-RP, October 2025