Josh continues his Conquests

Following his recent acclaimed performance with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall, Josh Ritter will play two sold out nights at Dublin’s Vicar Street in mid-December. While Irish fans may believe they are being rewarded for their long term loyalty, Ritter admits this isn’t totally true: “This is selfish. I wanted to do it all again!”

If the Symphony Hall performance is anything to go by, this show is set to be one of contrasts. Ritter recognises that it asks a lot of the audience to change the way songs are played, but he also believes there is a whole new level of enjoyment to be reached.

“It’s amazing. It’s like you take the lines and you colour inside them, creating a whole new picture” he says.

At times Ritter can take your breath away as he recounts poetic tales of love, hardship and everything in between. Ritter is confident that a full orchestral arrangement won’t detract from his words.

“The lyrics are central to my songs, but if you find someone who listens to those lyrics they’ll be able to work around that” he says. For Ritter, that person is Sean O’Loughlin, conductor for the Irish performances.

With four albums under his belt, Ritter took a different direction on his latest offering, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. The album is a departure from previous ones both in terms of style and lyrical content. On The Animal Years Ritter dug deep and delivered his message with honesty. Conquests has a much bigger, instrumentally driven sound.

A lot of the songs on Conquests are built around a strong rhythm section and catchy chorus. After one or two listens you’ll find yourself singing along - if you can master the verbose narratives.

Ritter says he didn’t want to dwell on the more reflective The Animal Years. On Conquests he bursts out of any kind of box people have tried to place him in.

“There’s a kind of an exhale on an album like this. You can spend so much time on
one theme that it’s easy to believe what you say is serious.”

Ritter does everything with good humour. Far from being intimidated by the immense talent at Boston Symphony Hall, he was energised by it.

When performing the song Rumours, Ritter raised up his arms, laughing as he belted out words that seemed almost tailor-made for the occasion: “My orchestra is gigantic, it could sink the Titanic!”

Anyone who has seen Ritter sing live might wonder if he could genuinely be as happy as he always seems onstage. The singer admits: “There are times when it’s work. Luckily for me it’s fairly rare. Sometimes you’re tired or something has happened in the family. Sometimes you’re just sick. When you go out on stage it just goes away. These people have paid for your records, paid for their tickets and come to see you perform”.

And he always does just that - perform.

Ritter has the power to hold a room hostage with just his acoustic guitar, and a voice that gets better with age. He has an amazing ability to connect with a crowd as though they are all old friends.
Engaging with his audience continues to be a top priority for the talented singer-songwriter now that he plays to bigger and bigger crowds.

“Whether or not you can carry on a conversation in a big place like you could in a small one is important. While you need to follow your artistic vision you also have to be accessible and realise you are not the centre of people’s universe.”

Ritter has been compared to musical greats like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello. How does the singer label his own music? “It’s rock n’ roll with lots of words. And when its slow it still rock.”

Although the lyrics on Conquests may not be as politically driven as those of The Animal Years, the Idaho-born singer has not lost interest in the governance of his home country. Ritter says he was beyond happy about Obama’s triumphant election victory.

He belongs to a category which grew dramatically during that election – the Red State Rebel. When asked if he’d done any campaigning in his native Idaho, Ritter laughed. “That’s been Red for a long time.” Afraid of getting beaten up? “Yes there was that too!”

Ritter’s two nights in Vicar Street both sold out quickly. With such amazing talent at the centre of what promises to be a carnival of sound, it’s easy to see why.