Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away

News that Josh Ritter is to have his first novel (entitled Bright’s Passage) published next summer won't come as any great surprise to those familiar with the Idaho native’s musical output to date. In truth, there has always been a strong literary bent to Ritter's songwriting, and So Runs The World Away is by far his most consciously literary work to date.

Taken as a whole, the album is admirably epic in its scope, a collection of tightly construed novellas interspersed with softer, more melodic numbers; these interludes serve up light relief, without which the album would surely sink under its own weightiness. But for all the laudable endeavour, something gets lost in the thicket – Ritter’s trademark deft lyrical touches and nimble turns-of-phrase, though still there, just aren't as abundant as on previous outings. That said, the adopted Irishman (us Irish do, after all, get our hands on this record 10 days before everyone else) should be commended for taking a more audacious approach on this, his sixth full-length offering. Indeed, on much of So Runs…it’s almost as if he’s trying to shake off the singer-songwriter tag in a bid to forge a new genre of his own making. You can (just about) see where he's trying to get to, but sadly this is not the vehicle to take him there, and some fans might well feel like they are being taken for a bit of a ride.

Take ‘Another New World’ for instance: a dense prose narrative that seems to be pitched more at the critical theorist than the passing listener, it's very demanding stuff; with a highly ambitious musical arrangement soldered awkwardly on top, the end result is a chimerical but oddly winning combination of Western epic played out against a film noir backdrop. It's 7 minutes and 34 seconds long too, and you’d better clear your schedule, because Ritter is intent on immersing you in this ‘Western noir’ world.

But it wouldn't be a Josh Ritter record without at least a few downright devilishly catchy tunes that defy you not to sing along, and ‘Lark’ and album-closer ‘Long Shadows’ both oblige in this regard. On these songs his ramblin' poet persona, which has occasioned so many comparisons to Bob Dylan in the past, takes on a new likeness to Paul Simon. The guitar-playing is cleaner, sunnier, the voice more cheery and unassuming than before; it's a stylistic transition that he pulls off with aplomb.

Overall, the album could have done with a few more songs like these two. Another highlight is ‘How Man Was Made’, a delicate number with just Ritter’s lone, thin voice tapering over a shimmering, metallic backing. Had he been willing to lighten the load like this more often, the listener would surely be content at simply being whisked away by melodies, rather than being sent in searching of lyrical profundity that just isn't there.

Hey, who knows? Perhaps he's saved his best lines for Brights Passage.