Rich Ruth announces third album, out via Jack White’s Third Man’s label
Experimental ambient/jazz virtuoso and Juno Daily favourite returns
Nashville-based experimental musician Rich Ruth announces his third LP Water Still Flows, set for release June 21 via Third Man Records. Explosive single ‘No Muscle, No Memory’ is out now – a beautiful introduction into the bold sonic world crafted by Ruth – alongside a cinematic music video directed by Joseph Bird.
Water Still Flows combines elements of spiritual jazz, synth-infused post-rock, doom, drone-metal, Kosmiche and more – the album born out of a time of transience for Ruth who was touring relentlessly for two years with S.G. Goodman and with his own outfit (see our Best Live Acts of 2023 for more details). Unmoored from waking up in a different city every day, he’d spend what little free time he had on breaks crafting enveloping drones at his home studio. In making this album, he sonically finds a way to unpack the yet unprocessed feelings that come with not-often-discussed difficulties of trying to make a living as a musician in 2024.
Says Ruth: “After spending a large portion of the past 12 years touring and recording, none of this stuff has gotten easier. Much of the anxiety and intense feelings I’ve poured into this record are a direct correlation to the uncertainty of trying to earn a living with music.
Despite many hopeful opportunities I’ve been given, it has taken a toll on my body and mental health merely trying to survive playing music in the current age. The soothing quality of these new pieces reflect a constant search for solitude and stability. The frenetic, heavier parts mirror the tense variability I feel on a regular basis as a working musician. At the end of the day, all of the sacrifice and uncertainty is a small price to pay for the privilege to share this music with people.”
Recorded at Ruth’s home studio and mixed by Jake Davis (William Tyler, Skyway Man), Water Still Flows reflects his unwavering devotion to collaboration. Its seven tracks are peppered with marquee collaborators, which alongside the aforementioned Davis and Que, include pedal steel player Spencer Cullum, drummer Ruben Gingrich, violinist Patrick M’gonigle, saxophonist Jared Selner, and more.
“Working with people who are just better musicians than me, or play drastically different instruments like harp and saxophone, opens up millions of new pathways of where the music can be taken,” says Ruth. “I’ll stitch a narrative out of these improvisational ideas but letting these players do whatever they want without parameters creates a much more unpredictable and interesting thing.”