Animal Years

Josh Ritter

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 11, 2006)
• Original Release Date: March 20, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: V2 North America
• ASIN: B000EOTV7U
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,478 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
It can be a dangerous proposition when an artist decides to challenge himself. Ambition means precious little without the talent to back it up. Idaho's Josh Ritter needn't worry: he's willed himself to great heights on The Animal Years, his fourth full-length and first for a major label. By combining his mysterious, knotty lyrics with straightforward melodies, nuanced, sensitive arrangements, and an unassuming vocal style, he's hit upon a spellbinding formula that confidently stretches the boundaries of folk music. Perhaps his most inspired move was in hiring producer Brian Deck, who's helped artists as diverse as Modest Mouse and Iron & Wine take great artistic leaps. Deck gives Ritter a huge, immediate, but not overwhelming presence, and he adds just the right touches--a gentle mandolin, an ominous piano, a swirling organ, marching drums--at just the right times. The album's centerpiece is the fire-and-brimstone "Thin Blue Flame," a slowly building, nearly 10-minute epic with a simple two-chord motif and portentous, surreal lyrical flurries. Throughout the album, Ritter's complex thoughts and observations about himself and the world at large--thick with literary references and religious imagery--seem sagely inconclusive; he revels in life's shades of gray, content to vividly describe what he sees and feels without hope or pessimism. Tender and reflective, haunting and unnerving, profound and unfathomable, The Animal Years is a consistently compelling, finely crafted work. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description
The 29-year old Idaho native returns with his stunning new album. Following the independent release of "The Golden Age Of Radio" (2002) and "Hello Starling" (2003), Ritter was championed by critics in publications ranging from the NY Times to Details. On this, his V2 debut, Josh more than lives up to the buzz. "As a storyteller, Ritter is matched only by his lofty influences" - Pitchfork. "He approaches songwriting and performing with humility, respect, and unforced and unaffected honesty" - No Depression.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Josh gets serious, April 12, 2006

By	A. Butterfield (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You can't blame Josh Ritter for getting to this point in his career and feeling some kind of need to make a statement, get a bit more serious as an artist, join the ranks. To me it feels very much like `The Animal Years' (a reference to his early days as a musician, apparently) is Josh saying, okay, here I am, I'm as good as anyone else and I claim my place. The animal years are over.
Many fans will have watched Josh's music progress from his charming, and at times humorous first album, through `Golden Age of Radio' and the breakthrough `Hello Starling'. Part of the charm at the start was that he didn't appear to be taking himself too seriously. Now he is.
But that's okay if you can pull it off without sounding pompous or silly, and of course he does pull it off. I'm not sure I particularly enjoy all nine minutes odd of `Thin Blue Flame', but I've sat with the lyrics and it's brilliantly written. Along with the more tuneful `In the Dark' `Thin Blue Flame' is the unavoidable comment on today's bad, bad world, but one is direct and uncompromising, the other light and melodic, beautiful even.
Ritter's writing is changing: the themes here are identifiable but not so easy to access as before. You have to stop and figure out what these songs are really about, you have to interpret the meaning.
Other things are changing too. Josh sounded, or tried to sound gruff like Dylan on his first record. Now he's almost borrowing Ryan Adams' `other voice' and often sings high, sweet and open, like on the plaintive `Idaho' or `One More Mouth'. This guy can sing.
`Thin Blue Flame' manages not to unbalance the album luckily. In fact, there's a nice balance between `Hello starling' type songs that have a driving rhythm, lighter songs like `Good Man' and sparse, quiet songs like `Idaho'.
I'm not a huge fan of songs like `Lillian', which I find a bit noisy and monotonous. But there are some cracking songs, some that really hit the spot. `Good Man' is brilliantly put together, catchy, intricate, unusual. `Monster Ballads' is spacious and deliberate, atmospheric, iconic. There are at least two others that seem destined to become all-time favourites.
So I can't help giving this the full five stars. It's very good. I just wonder though whether I don't LIKE those early albums just a little more. Time will tell.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Generation's Greatest Songwriter, April 11, 2006

By	irishcornboy (Phoenix, Arizona) - See all my reviews

When the market is flooded with sensitive male singer/songwriters at the moment, how does one find room for one more? Easy, when one of them writes music as timeless, classic and important as Josh's. Mr. Ritter writes beautifully crafted songs; scattered with poetic lyricism and visual imagery that imbeds into your psyche long after the disc has ended. Josh is one of those special singer/songwriters that has slowly built more ground with each new release and quietly he has become of this generation's greatest songwriters. And even though this is only Josh's fourth release, it promises and solidifies his place in history. An equal balance of folk and rock, political and personal, upbeat and low. Drawing on inspiration from Dante to Mark Twain. Josh, band and producer Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Wheat, Modest Mouse) have created a classic, timeless sounding, American singer/songwriter record. Yet, it also sounds like very much a band, in production and musical scope. With each listen you discover something unique and new. The subtle little sounds Mr. Deck weaves in and out of the songs showcases the man's talent as producer. Strong imagery has always been a major plus in Josh's music. On this disc he's pushed himself into the category of Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen and John Prine (all who are influences on Josh). I doubt anyone will top this disc on my year end poll.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lithium Dreams, November 4, 2006

By	Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

After two excellent studio sets, "Golden Age of Radio" & "Starling," Ritter's first set for V2 records is a fitting successor. Perhaps in an era shadowed by war and international disharmony, Ritter loses some of the tongue-in-cheek humor that graced earlier recordings for a more direct style. "Thin Blue Flame" is probably the tour de force track @ 9 & 1/2 minutes with its strong political indictment and its pounding piano that builds with chords exploding like bombs, "Streets named for heroes that could almost exist, the fruit trees of Eden & the gardens that seem to float like the smoke from a lithium dream." It's not a happy track, but it is tremendously moving and powerful with Ritter's emotional vocals packing a wallop. Ritter is an Idaho native and howls like a lonesome Hank Williams on the slow & lonesome track named after his native state, "So I gave up a life of crime, I gave it to a friend of mine." "Lillian, Egypt" is a humorous escapade about a guy who absconds with a banker's daughter from Illinois. The catchiest tunes on the set are probably the two openers. On "Wolves," Ritter marries a beautiful melody to amazingly original lyrics and sells it with strong vocals & Sam Kassirer's glorious piano, "I still remember the time when we were dancing, We were dancing to a song that I'd heard, Your face was simple and your hands were naked; I was singing without knowing the words." "Girl in the Water" is a magical track with the high pitched guitar part sounding like raindrops falling that matches the ending lyric line, "They sparkle bubble over & in the morning all you got is the rain." "The Animal Years" is another excellent set by this sparkling artist. It's a treasure & a pleasure! Enjoy!