RICH RUTH SHARES I SURVIVED, IT’S OVER
NASHVILLE-BASED COMPOSER/BANDLEADER UNVEILS
MILESTONE NEW ALBUM
“TAKEN BACK” OFFICIAL LIVE PERFORMANCE VIDEO
PREMIERES TODAY – WATCH
TOMORROW’S ALBUM RELEASE SHOW AT THIRD MAN NASHVILLE
TO BE LIVE-STREAMED VIA VOLUME.COM
I SURVIVED, IT’S OVER AVAILABLE NOW VIA THIRD MAN RECORDS
Nashville-based composer/bandleader Rich Ruth has announced today’s release of his critically acclaimed new album, I Survived, It’s Over, available via Third Man Records on black vinyl, CD, and Bandcamp-exclusive cassette tape, as well as at all DSPs and streaming services. Independent record store-exclusive light blue colored vinyl is now available at a record store near you.
Ruth will ring in the album’s release with a performance in The Blue Room at Third Man Nashville tomorrow, August 13, with support from Spencer Cullum and Bleary. The show will be live-streamed via Volume.com – find more details HERE.
Mixed by renowned Chicago producer/engineer John McEntire (Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Stereolab), I Survived, It’s Over was first heralded earlier this spring by the epically ambitious opening track, “Taken Back,” available now at all DSPs and streaming services. An official live performance video – filmed at The Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville and featuring the full six-piece Rich Ruth “New Age spiritual jazz jam band” – is streaming now at YouTube.
Hailed by Aquarium Drunkard as “an ambitious and thrilling slice of neo-spiritual jazz fusion,” I Survived, It’s Over also includes the expansive “Older But Not Less Confused,” accompanied by a mesmerizing new short film by director Brook Linder, streaming now at YouTube.
WATCH "TAKEN BACK" (LIVE)
WATCH "OLDER BUT NOT LESS CONFUSED" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
LISTEN/PURCHASE I SURVIVED, IT'S OVER
Rich 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 that 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.
“I Survived, It’s Over is a meditation on healing, confronting trauma, surrendering, and finding peace,” Rich Ruth says. “I constantly experiment with sound until it reflects the way I am feeling and attempt to sculpt something meaningful from it.”
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PRAISE FOR RICH RUTH AND I SURVIVED, IT’S OVER:
“Each composition is a galaxy unto itself, embracing maximalism. This record sounds BIG, with thunderous drums, soaring arrangements, wild sax and guitar solos and gorgeous flute all contributing to a highly dramatic atmosphere. There’s a fearlessness on I Survived, It’s Over that immerses the listener, sweeping you away into some other realm. Ruth goes for broke on the record’s seven tracks and comes up a winner every time.”
– AQUARIUM DRUNKARD
“I Survived, It’s Over lays down a bed of smoldering cosmic-fusion grooves…This is much more than tasteful mood music, reaching hungrily for a complex spiritual resolution.”
– UNCUT (8/10)
“A modern spiritual-jazz indebted wonder…I Survived, It’s Over is a complete trip, a record that successfully repurposes the isolation, trauma, and self-care of Covid into what might adequately be described as an instrumental masterpiece for this peculiar era. Prepare to be healed.”
– MOJO (5 Stars)
“Every track off the debut from Rich Ruth pushes further into the psychedelic unconsciousness. The composer’s album slaloms through jazz-psych sojourns,
Library Music motifs and ambient float.”
– RAVEN SINGS THE BLUES
“Mesmerizing post-rock dreamscape.”
– NOWNESS
“Wonderfully bizarre music, as stylized as an art-school syllabus, yet as natural as breathing.”
– BANDCAMP
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RICH RUTH
LIVE 2022
9/4 - Nelsonville Music Festival - Nelsonville, OH
RICH RUTH
I SURVIVED, IT’S OVER
Tracklist:
Taken Back
Older But Not Less Confused
Desensitization and Reprocessing
Heavy and Earthbound
Thou Mayest
Angel Slide
Doxology
CONNECT WITH RICH RUTH:
BANDCAMP | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE
