Ruby Pines is a collaborative album by Colorado artist Jordan Burgett and producer and creative Taylor Higgins, both formerly based in Iowa, who began working together in early 2024. Burgett, long recognized locally for his versatility as a rapper, steps into new territory here, reshaping his voice for a rock-driven, theatrical sound. Higgins, an artist, producer, and engineer whose work has taken him around the world, anchors the project with bold, textured production that defines its gothic tone. Released in two parts and completed as RUBY PINES SUPER DELUXE on November 14, 2025, the seven-track record moves between post-punk electronica and shadowy experimentation, shaped in part by Higgins’ recent tour through Eastern Europe lending to the album’s gritty atmosphere.
From the opening line ‘I’m just a small town runaway’ from “SMALL TOWN RUNAWAY,” the narrative takes shape. Across the record, Burgett constructs a smooth, confident persona that’s dark, seductive, and emotionally guarded. It’s a character built to survive loneliness. Lyrically, Burgett set out to confront what he describes as “rebellious messiness,” reflecting on a slick, overconfident identity that once reinforced darker pillars of ego.
As the album unfolds, that confidence begins to erode. Instrumental tracks like “CINNAMON SKIES IS 4 TABS OF TERROR,” and “TRACK 6 (THE RUNNER),” remove vocals entirely, allowing Higgins’ ambient compositions to guide the listener deeper into the project’s emotional terrain. These moments feel like wandering without a destination with pauses that invite inward reflection.
That journey culminates in “PHIL,” the softest and most exposed track on the record. Here, the persona finally collapses. “Look at my sober soul. How did you notice me?” Burgett sings, revealing something fragile beneath the theatrics. “This is the side of me I usually protect with my overzealous persona,” he explains. “In the end, in every person’s heart sits a wounded child that’s seeking love.”
Recorded in just ten days, Ruby Pines came together naturally in Higgins’ basement studio in Nederland, Colorado. The duo built off one another instinctively, pulling from eras that shaped them from ’80s ballads to Limp Bizkit and Beastie Boys, and filtering those influences through a more haunted lens. “We never go into a session knowing what we want to make,” Burgett says. “It’s always Taylor fiddling around with some shit, and then I’ll probably perk up and be like, ‘Oh, that’s it.’”
The name Ruby Pines arrived late in the process. During a filming day, Higgins remarked, “You can smell the pines,” and Burgett took that and ran with it, giving a name to their new sonic world.
As Burgett and Higgins prepare to debut Ruby Pines live at The Black Buzzard on New Year’s Eve, the music continues to evolve. “We get to enhance the songs, lengthen them, add halftime sections and jam stuff,” Higgins says. “Ruby Pines feels like it’s meant to be played live.” Experience it at Midnight in Ruby Pines on December 31, 2025, at The Black Buzzard in Denver—both artists’ first headline show, and the next chapter in a story still unfolding.
RUBY PINES SUPER DELUXE is available now on all streaming platforms.
