Jack Rutter’s latest obsession with “cubing” started as a distraction – a little right brain activity to give his left brain a break from writing music.

But he’s starting to think it might be something more. Solving a Rubik’s Cube is all about figuring out patterns, making moves, messing up and starting over.

That same deliberate, careful process shaped his latest album, BASE, which only clicked into place after a period of doubt that nearly pulled him away from music altogether.

'BASE,' Jack Rutter's third studio album as Ritt Momney, independently released February 27, 2026 — ‘BASE,’ Jack Rutter’s third studio album as Ritt Momney, independently released February 27, 2026

“When you’re thinking about it as a way to make money, it just sucks the creative spirit out of you,” he says. “I’ve gotten kind of spiritual about music – not commodifying it, not thinking about it as a job. For my first couple of albums, I really did think about it as a way to make money. I’m in it more for the right reasons now. It made working on this album so much easier and more fun. And in my opinion, it made the music better too.”

That shift didn’t come easily for the Utah-based musician, who records under the moniker Ritt Momney.

His breakout moment came with his viral cover of “Put Your Records On,” which introduced him to a massive online audience almost overnight. With it came streams, attention and the pressure to sustain momentum. In those early years, making music began to feel transactional. The viral success handed him what he calls a “golden opportunity,” and like many young artists, he focused on maximizing it.

There’s nothing more destructive than pausing mid-song to wonder whether there’s a “TikTokable moment” hiding in the bridge.

By the time he released his sophomore album, Sunny Boy, the joy had started to erode. Writing, recording, even casually listening to music began to feel exhausting. The problem, he realized, wasn’t the music itself – it was the mindset surrounding it.

“The love was probably still in there somewhere, but it was not something that I enjoyed for a little while,” he admits. “I always feel a little bit hypocritical talking about it like this because I’m making money off music and it’s paying my bills, but I don’t think we were ever meant to make money off of art.”

Getting Ready for “Some Emotional Shit” with Ritt Momney

:: INTERVIEW ::

The turning point came when he finally allowed himself to ask a difficult question: Do I even want to do this?

For years, the answer had felt predetermined. But when he genuinely considered walking away – when he gave himself permission to stop – something shifted. “It was right then that I was like, I want to make another album. Just because I want to.”

Now newly married and grounded in a stable home life in Salt Lake City, Rutter writes from darker emotional spaces without letting them consume him. “Everyone has all of the emotions inside of them at all times,” he explains. Stability gives him the safety to explore those darker areas deliberately.

There’s a common belief that you need a little chaos to make great art, but Rutter has discovered a different path. It challenges the romanticized image of the tortured artist. “I think that makes for a better headline,” he says, “but I don’t think it makes better art.”

**On BASE, that steadiness shows up as depth without desperation.**

There were moments during the writing and recording process, he recalls, when a lyric or melody would catch in his throat. “It’s one of the best parts of making music,” he says – that feeling when something clicks into place.

That sense of presence carries over into songs that sound like an artist rediscovering why he makes music.

For example, the title track sets the mood for the album without trying too hard. Recorded live with his band to 8-track, Rutter’s voice sounds a little rough around the edges, letting the small flaws and rawness of the performance reflect his renewed approach to making music.

Ritt Momney 'BASE' © Sam Angeletti — Ritt Momney ‘BASE’ © Sam Angeletti

“Gunna” starts quietly, just him and some acoustic strums. The lyrics are about putting things off, and the song slowly builds with keys and a bit of distortion. It’s compelling, but not in an obvious or pushy way. Then there’s “The Tank,” a song about the Utah Jazz losing games on purpose that balances humor with reflection. It’s quirky and clever, but also about accepting mistakes and starting over.

Through all the different moods and ideas, it comes back to the simple joy of writing and making songs.

“I think I just kind of love the way it feels to write a song or make a song,” he says. “This is gonna sound super dramatic, but I feel like I do it because there’s something inside me that wants me to do it. It’s pretty insane that we can create something that didn’t exist before, and it really touches us when we can do that because there’s something in us that wants to make something beautiful that wasn’t there before.”

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