Reviews
Josh Ritter
The Animal Years
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2006-04-13
Josh Ritter is a bit of anomaly: he’s underappreciated everywhere in the world except in Ireland. The Animal Years is the American singer-songwriters’ fourth album (third commercial album), and may pave the way for success outside the Emerald Isle. Success in Ireland can be a good thing – just ask David Gray. Before the release of White Ladder his career was very much unnoticed by the mainstream population. However, after the album’s massive success in Ireland, he became a global name. White Ladder still is Ireland’s biggest selling album ever, and Gray has become an honorary Irishman. Ritter is now accepted as one of their own in Ireland, but his career has yet to take off as much outside the country.
The Animal Years, the follow-up to the very successful Hello Starling, opens with ‘Girl In The War’, which showcases Ritter’s usual brilliant storytelling. It’s essentially a love song, but with Ritter’s songwriting, nothing is ever straightforward. He utilises some great rhyme, as well as some lovely simile. The instrumental parts of the song are nice, but they leave you missing the lyrics. And it’s the lyrics, not the music which makes Josh Ritter’s songs good. Not that listening to Wolves would make you notice – it’s probably the best Ritter has ever been musically. The song just screams out to be played on radio. It needs exposure. It deserves exposure.
‘Monster Ballads’ tones things down a bit, and it shows that Ritter still remembers what made him good before. This song would definitely not appear out of place alongside ‘Lawrence, Ks.’, ‘Come and Find Me’ or any of the songs on Ritter’s excellent Golden Age of Radio album. Although why the song isn’t called ‘What Katie Did’ I don’t know. I wonder did Ritter need a drummer for this song though, as the percussion sounds like a drum track rather than an individual. ‘Lillian, Egypt’ is one of the strangest song titles since Sufjan Stevens last released an album. Don’t let this put you off though, it’s a great song, and actually sounds like something Sufjan might have done. The chorus has a nice little sing-a-long “nah nah” part. And who couldn’t like a song that has the line “last time I saw her she was tied to the train tracks”?
‘Idaho’ features no music whatsoever for the most part, and when instruments do start they’re very sparse. It’s a chance to showcase Ritter’s voice, but without music the song just feels like a hymn. And I’d go to church if I wanted to hear a hymn. The finger hovers over the fast-forward button the entire way through the track. ‘In The Dark’ sadly doesn’t restart where the album left off. It doesn’t have the same immediacy as the first four tracks. It’s a good enough song, just nothing spectacular. ‘One More Mouth’ suffers from the exact same problem.
‘Good Man’, however, has much more life in it, and you’d nearly forgive Ritter for the previous three songs. Note: I said “nearly”. With three poor tracks in the middle, the album has now become an eight-song album or an EP as they’re usually called! But I don’t want to take from ‘Good Man’; it’s a tremendous song, and never feels repetitive. The piano section here is breathtaking, and the lyrics are, as usual, excellent. ‘Best for the Best’ has a nice acoustic intro (like the aforementioned ‘Come And Find Me’), but never really gets going. At four minutes it goes on too long too.
‘Thin Blue Flame’ features, shock!, electric guitar. But don’t worry; it’s a gently strummed electric guitar. The song goes on for ten minutes, which is a little too long, but strangely enough, doesn’t feel that long. The pounding piano of the second half of the song transforms the song, and breathes new life into it. Closer ‘Here at the Right Time’ clocks in at a more normal three minutes and forty seconds. It has a real familiar sound to it, but with Ritter’s gruff vocal, it doesn’t sound too familiar. And is a nice way to end a nice album.
Tracks to Download: Good Man, Wolves, Girl In The War, Monster Ballads
Score: 7.4
A very weak middle means that this isn’t the album it could have been. It also means that Golden Age of Radio still remains Ritter’s masterpiece. It’s sad, because if that was a new album it would probably get him the acclaim he deserves. Until he makes another that good, he’ll remain an anomaly. You may even expect him to sing in a Dublin accent on his next album!
- Ronan Hunt-Murphy