Ruah

Ruah

Ruah is the experimental post-industrial ambient pop project of Benjamin Schurr (BLIGHT. Records, Luna Honey, Nyxy Nyx, Tadzio).The project takes off from where Schurr’s former project Br’er left off in 2020, marrying dizzying swashes of visceral noise pulsing visceral post industrial rhythms, creaky organic instruments, found sounds and earnest yet absurdist lyrics.  Schurr describes his process  “My aim has always been to merge conflicting sounds, abrasive and beautiful and to see what occurs. Whether it’s been done before is pretty much irrelevant to me, I want to constantly be exploring music and to chase that feeling of wonderment as if I am discovering fire for the first time.”

Smothered and covered is a bridge between the former world that Br’er inhabited and the newer sonic realm of Ruah. Proudly transitional, Schurr states “I want this album to be a palate cleanser and lead people from one world into the next”.

“Ruah is Hebrew for ‘A violent joyous sound or a war cry’ which to me seems like an appropriate trajectory for the project.”

Ruah‘s first full length album “Ruwa” sees producer/songwriter Benjamin Schurr laying the groundwork for the project utilizing various types of analog, warm guttural distortions against hypnotic mantras, speaker rattling bass synths, post-industrial rhythms, ethereal pads and ancient acoustic instruments. “Lyrically I wanted to focus on the power of belief and devotion in the face of a pervasive violent uncertainty. Sonically I wanted to maintain the songcraft I was honing with my old band Br’er but take it into new, unfamiliar realms and make sure that all the sounds felt both unknown to me and also emotionally affecting”.

Memory Loops, is an exploration of memory, loss, and grief by the Philadelphia based experimental song project Ruah. Led by Benjamin Schurr, Memory Loops sees the project focusing on fragility and the significance of memory to navigate loss. Over the past few months, since returning to his hometown of Philadelphia, Benjamin recontextualized old cassettes and forgotten field recordings from the past 15 years to transform them into new pieces. “After setting up my studio in West Philly I found myself compelled to digitize old cassettes, microcassettes and field recordings I had made with friends at the beginning of my start as a producer/songwriter. I found snippets of magic from a friend who since passed and a song began to reveal itself, the more i dug the more revelations, this is a collection of that process, focusing on loops that had significance to me as a sonic mantra and a way to keep these fleeting memories alive”