The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter (studio album) by Josh Ritter

From buzzdainer 09/11/2016 18:08

The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is a mature and lovingly crafted effort by my favorite singer/songwriter of the 2000s. The son of two neuroscience professors at the University of Idaho, Ritter brings an acute intellectual and literary sensibility to his writing of lyrics, but manages to do it in a way that feels neither pretentious nor superfluous. His songs, in fact, are more than anything about the poetry and landscapes of feeling--the ways that words and stories and places draw emotion out of us and sustain us. Even when he's in a playful mood, as his often is on this album, Ritter's emotional compass remains spot on, as in "Next to the Last Romantic": "He's riding the plains, living up to his name / As the next to the last true romantic / He knows that his story is tragic / But he can't rest 'til he's next to you."

From paladisiac 12/09/2011 19:17

This album is the loud & rowdy opposite of the intimate, somewhat folky "the animal years". The energy and warmth found in songs like "to the dogs or whoever", "right moves" and "next to the last romantic" are infectious. "to the dogs or whoever" is josh ritter on speed -- a rapid pace of indie pop rock storming out with lyrics "Deep in the belly of a whale I found her / Down with the deep blue jail around her / Running her hands through the ribs of the dark / Florence and Calamity and Joan of Arc". "right moves" is hip and smooth with its trumpets and classic-rock-sounding guitar and a simple endearing sentiment of "Am I making all the right moves? / Am I singing you the right blues? / Is there a time when I can call you, just to see how you are doing* (with lyrics of starry nights and the moon and constellations for my late night walks). The pace of the acoustic guitar and compressed drums of "open doors" is exhilarating while Josh pines "I thought an open door would bring you in / Now I guess I'm gonna have to guess again". The piano and guitar-screech in "real long distance" push and pull against the march of the long distance call. "next to the last romantic" kinda sounds 50's country ("he's stolen hearts like their horses / and horses when hearts can't be found / he keeps riding from one horse / to one horse to one horse town / (it get's him down) " -- haha). Mid-tempo numbers like "mind's eye" and "rumors" have just as much energy with their horns and piano and xylophone and Josh's playful delivery. Even the ballads are warm and inviting, like "the temptation of adam" and its full, acoustic guitar backing an upbeat tale of apocalypse, upbeat as long as one can die in their loved-one's arms ("I think about the Big One, W.W.I.I.I. / Would we ever really care the world had ended? / You could hold me here forever like you're holding me tonight / I look at that great big red button and I'm tempted "). Or the inviting amour of "wait for love" or perseverance of "still beating" ("i know the dog days of the summer / Have you ten-to-one out-numbered / Seems like everybody up and left and they're not coming back / The shadow that you're standing on's still here sometimes that's all that you can ask").