Rich Ruth teases much anticipated new album with ‘visualizer’ promo

John McEntire of Tortoise at the mixing helm for the new album

Nashville-based ambient jazz composer Rich Ruth – aka Michael Ruth – has announced the release of his new album I Survived, It’s Over via Jack White’s Third Man Records on Friday August 12.

Ruth played a low key, last minute show in the basement of Third Man’s Soho store last Thursday (June 16), in support of the album, which has been mixed by renowned Chicago producer/engineer John McEntire, also a member of Tortoise and The Sea and Cake. Ruth played alone, using loop pedals, guitar and multiple synths to create a uniquely chilled out, meditative combination of ambient, jazz and new age sounds.

The first publicly released track from the LP is its opening ‘Taken Back;’, accompanied by an evocative visualizer video.

The title I Survived, It’s Over relates to its role as “a meditation on healing, confronting trauma, surrendering, and finding peace,” according to Ruth

“I constantly experiment with sound until it reflects the way I am feeling and attempt to sculpt something meaningful from it.” Rick Ruth – a.k.a. veteran Nashville-based musician Michael Ruth – took a break from touring with various bands in 2018 and dedicated himself to composing ambient music in his small home studio, focusing on the diverse traditions of ambient, new age, spiritual jazz, Kosmiche, and minimalist music. His ideas became fully realized with the inclusion of additional players, pairing his repetitive, droning synthesizer movements with spur-of-the-moment improvisation to transform the material into something much more lush and unpredictable.

One summer morning, Ruth was held up at gunpoint and carjacked by two people outside of his home. His music allowed him to work through this personal struggle, infusing his 2019 debut album, Calming Signals, with striking layers of angst and emotion. Where There’s Life followed in 2021, a collection of meditative pieces written in the early months of the pandemic manifesting the collective sense of uncertainty and solitude of the time. Recorded in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic and in the wake of a series of tornadoes which wreaked havoc upon his North Nashville neighborhood, I Survived, It’s Over sees Rich Ruth pushing his music even further into heretofore untapped sonic and emotional terrain. Melding inventive sound exploration, complex instrumentation – from shredding guitars and swelling strings to flutes, saxophones, pedal steel, and more – and a transcendent passion for nature,

Ruth has created a milestone work of organic, symphonic power, a deeply affirmative musical movement that transforms the unease and sorrow of this difficult era into something strong and true and beautiful. “Working on this music is a daily meditation,” he says, “I wanted to encapsulate the tranquility and disarray found within this process.”

Pre-order your copy of I Survived, It’s Over here