Cast Off Form - Ruach

Released: November 3

Ruach is actually a follow-up from Cast Off Form's 2022 release of the same name and utilizes the same general theme but with a dramatically different execution. The first of these two was much noisier and seemed a bit more chaotic. This Ruach of 2023 is more organized, meditative, and focused while still not straying far from the noise aesthetic. The album consists of eight tracks, each one being centered around a specific breathing pattern. These breathing patterns are accompanied by no more than two "instruments" on each track and processed in various ways. I put instruments in quotes as Cast Off Form frequently utilizes non-instruments as musical instruments. 

The breathing patterns tend to more or less define the track most of the time. "Hyperventilating" is a favorite of mine as the breathing pattern is is accompanied only by hand percussion playing in rapid and sporadic rhythms. It accurately reflects the sensation of hyperventilating, complete with the panic and disorientation that accompanies it. However, this is not the bulk of the album. The album actually opens up with "In/Out" which utilizes the most common breathing pattern for meditation of in through the nose and out through the mouth. Having attempted meditation numerous times, the noisy chaos of the track is accurate as the more you try to push out the noise with your breathing, the more apparent it becomes. I can't say this is a calming listen, but conceptually it is something I have not yet heard before even in the realm of noise music.