So Runs the World Away   Independent  * * * *

Josh Ritter has seemingly effortless levels of quality control – not one of his five albums is weak. Some have been better than others, yet all have shown the Idaho songwriter to be more than the sum of his influences and reference points.

Like his two most obvious mentors – Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen – Ritter is a quintessentially American songwriter, adept as much with a turn of phrase as a quirk of history. What has increasingly set him apart from others, however, and in many ways marks him out as a younger, just-as-smart version of his elders, is his attention to detail. It is this approach that makes So

Runs the World Away

(a Hamlet reference) so appealing, with songs such as

Southern Pacifica, Folk Bloodbath

and

Another New World

standouts in what is (yet again) a very formidible collection. joshritter.com

Download tracks:Folk Bloodbath, Another New World