In Rah Form Vol. 1

Beat maker and producer Rah Zen – aka Jake Gilman – might just be the busiest man in Boston’s music scene. Between organizing the Nightworks beat show – a regularly scheduled evening featuring local and visiting forces from the beat scene – and his day job helping promote local creators and stories from the arts community, you might not expect the average person to have the time and energy to churn out their own music. 

But Rah Zen – a name that references both the Torah of Judaism and the zen practices of Buddhism – is aspiring for something beyond the average. On the heels of last years Upon the Apex, his sophomore album that traverses a spiritual journey based on Gilman’s own global travels, he’s not slowing down in the creation process.  

Photo by Erin Esco

On May 29, Rah will drop the first volume of his new series In Rah Form, but you can stream it a day early right here. Showcasing his knack for finding heady samples that simultaneously tug at the heartstrings while instilling thought-provoking imagery in the ears and mind of the listener, In Rah Form Vol. 1 features three short tracks that bleed seamlessly into each other. The tracks weave samples from old school pop vocal tracks as well as a recording of a man talking about zen meditation and how critical it is to live in the “now.” 

There’s something to that: that first sample asking “where is the sun?” really digs at the hopelessness that some people are feeling right now, stuck at home. It’s response comes in the mindfulness argued for by the speaker of the next vocal sample, whose thoughts on meditation are prefaced by statements on consciousness, mindful listening, and the dissolution of ego. 

Stream In Rah Form Vol. 1 via Soundcloud below.