Full Review: Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests of…

The album is not a sugar coated treat but rather a deep, complex treat that can be a lot to bite off and chew.

The music ranges from country to alternative even touching on the pop side of things all while ultimately staying in the folk category. The instrumentation on the album makes me think of Sufjan Stevens the way you’re never sure what types of instruments will make an appearance but the ones that do show up never sound out of place or distracting. Horns in some fashion seem to make it on to quite a few songs sometimes more subtle than others.

There is definitely a raw feeling that is obvious from the very first song which is not a production issue but rather done on purpose adding to the style and feeling the album carries.

The secret and the brilliance of the album seems to be the ability of each song to have it’s simple yet memorable melody line which it pretty much sticks to throughout the entire song. The band jams on the melody line which embeds it in your mind for days. Switching up lyrics, arrangements and dynamics keep the songs from getting old even after you’ve memorized them.

The opening track “To the Dogs or Whoever” is unique compared to the rest of the album and if heard of its own could be misleading but fits well with all the other songs. The song spits out lyrics as fast as you can take them in only slowing down for the chorus to give you chance to tap you foot and sing along. “Still beating” and “The Temptation of Adam” would have to be the nearly flawless album’s hidden gems. These songs have the potential to get overlooked but their simplicity has the ability to lull you both lyrically and musically.

Those of you looking for some new music which doesn’t play it safe, but rather takes risks that pay out huge, should look to Josh Ritter to provide that music. The praises for the album have been sung and so I guess we’re just coming to the chorus now.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Full Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.