The Beast In Its Tracks

Josh Ritter is among the great American songwriters.  To me at least. He has a great sense of melody and far more often than not he tosses of a great line. Like this from "Girl In The War" from his brilliant Animal Years album: "Peter said to Paul you know all those words we wrote/Are just the rules of the game and the rules are the first to go."

His latest record, The Beast In Its Tracks, finds him carrying on in the aftermath of his divorce. The name of the record is apt.  Instead of looking at the loss through a prism of anger and pain and revenge and axe-grinding, Ritter took a year to get over those inevitabilities and instead looks at his divorce and his new relationship as a sigul of rebirth and progress and moving on. Stopping the beast in its proverbial tracks. For a break-up record it's unnaturally upbeat and positive.

Take "Hopeful" for example. It straddles the sadness that comes with a break-up:

How many times did you give me all your love

Just to find out it was so far from far from enough

I followed her out into the street in the rain

And the whole world stopped spinning and it just went up in flame

But then re-enforces life's circle with the joy of new love:

These days I'm feeling better about the man I am

There's things I can't change and there's other I can

I've met someone new now I know I deserve

I've never met someone loves the world more than her

There's dark moments but there's an abundance of light. That's refreshing these days; you don't really hear that too often, or if you do it's usually so syrupy or pretentious it's unlistenable. In my own songwriting, I tend to drift towards the dark and sad, though I am really trying to get more upbeat! It's hard to write happy or even positive that doesn't sound maudlin.

After the first listen I admit the album didn't really strike me. The last few Josh Ritter records have not resonated as well as the aforementioned Animal Years. But after giving this record the headphone experience the lyrics stood out. Stood out enough to make me stop in my tracks. There is beauty in Ritter's lines and there is real life hidden within them. From the bitterness that gives way to resignation and moments of schadenfreude that hopefully leads to the joy that is often buried deep within the trials.

Musically, it's acoustic driven. The band doesn't show up until halfway through the first side. And when it does show up it serves to augment the words and the subtle performance of Ritter himself. Whereas Ritter has often been compared to Bob Dylan, pre-Graceland Paul Simon is what comes to mind here. The vocal delivery is fast, is story-driven, is done with a Simon-esque lilt.

So, here is a great record. A really really great record that strikes me with each new listen. I'll leave you with a live version of the stand-out track "Hopeful." Enjoy. And buy it!!