Josh Ritter - Bringing In The Darlings EP
- Written by Melanie McGovern
Saccharine songwriter Josh Ritter follows up 2010's So Runs the World Away with a stripped down, acoustic folk EP which harks back to his beginnings as a solo balladeer.
Recorded in Brooklyn during the winter of 2011, Bringing in the Darlings precedes the LP entitled simply Darlings, and is comprised of the tracks which didn't make the final cut, but which do, unsurprisingly, all contain the word "darling". It's an intimate recording featuring only Ritter and longstanding producer Josh Kaufman assisting on the vast majority of instrumentation.
There's an oldtime feel to this EP, with the tracks united by a structure devoid of complexity, melded together with warm and stirring harmonies. Overall it recalls the likes of Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, and the Everly Brothers in the simplicity of instrumentation which stays true to the style of these songwriters, and was the vein the Idaho musician hoped to emulate having listened to the three in particular when writing and recording.
Opener 'Why' ruminates over a quietly plucked guitar illuminating Ritter at his most simplistic and best, while the warm hums closing the track glow with a choral warmth. There's a certain doo-wop bounce to 'Love is Making Its Way Back Home', while the twangs of an upright bass on 'Darlin' retain the lighthearted narrative lacing the half dozen tracks. Certainly it is not Josh Ritter's most challenging set of songs lyrically - there are no eight minute epics akin to 'Thin Blue Flame' which grew to an apocalyptic crescendo on 2006's The Animal Years. Instead Darlings is inoffensive at least and pigeonholed in a niche '50s epoch at best; and for this musical replication of the era, while retaining Ritter's poetic charm it, succeeds wholeheartedly. A welcomed return to simplicity from the songwriter turned Royal City Band's ever smiling frontman.