![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rootsmusic.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/jason-banner.jpg?resize=640%2C78&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
By the time an artist makes their third album, it\u2019s a safe bet they\u2019ve learned a few lessons. In the case of singer\/songwriter Josh Ritchie<\/strong>, those lessons led to taking control of all aspects of So Much More Than a Dream<\/strong><\/em>, with the result being a dynamically powerful 11-song collection that blurs the lines between modern rock, experimental folk, and contemporary r&b.<\/p>\n In some ways, it\u2019s the sound of our age, where genres are fluid, and an artist has the tools at their fingertips to take any idea and construct a unique sonic landscape out of it. In film parlance, it\u2019s been called \u201cthe auteur theory\u201d for decades, and for Josh Ritchie, it guided his vision throughout the making of So Much More Than A Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI think with this record I\u2019ve learned how to use the studio as an instrument,\u201d he said. \u201cI have always loved recording and especially recording myself. It\u2019s become an integral part of how I write and compose music but making this record just felt different. I felt more control over my craft, limitations became opportunities, and everything in the room became a tool of expression. Maybe it was luck, or experience, or both, but every experiment seemed to come off, and all the parts just glued together so easily. It\u2019s like everything I could imagine came to life.\u201d<\/p>\n In short, So Much More Than A Dream<\/em> can be described as a concept album telling the story of a young adult searching for peace and purpose in our increasingly turbulent world. It\u2019s hardly a stretch to say that theme mirrors much of Josh\u2019s life to this point, having grown up BIPOC in Ontario\u2019s Bruce Peninsula. Much of his music to date has been a product of his experiences, but on So Much More Than A Dream<\/em> he pours his soul into each song, as on the first single, \u201cNumb,\u201d which asks the increasingly common question, \u201cDo you believe in anything at all?\u201d<\/p>\n Josh clearly believes in many things and wants you to believe in them as well. On the anthemic new single \u201cCelestial,\u201d he firmly pins his heart to his sleeve, running through the list of things that sustain his spirit, with love firmly at the top. Later, on the stunning ballad \u201cVancouver,\u201d he sounds like a young Leonard Cohen, surveying the wreckage of his life amid the wreckage of the inner city. But it\u2019s \u201cSmall Town Boys\u201d that Josh highlights as a personal triumph.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of great things about the part of Ontario where I grew up\u2014and still live in\u2014but for a mixed-race kid who wore loud clothes and sang in choirs, it was far from easy,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the kind of person who would rather decant a nice pinot noir than crush a Busch Light in the back of a pick-up truck. \u2018Small Town Boys\u2019 sums up those feelings. But it\u2019s the arrangement that I am most excited for people to hear. I think it encompasses my sensibilities as a musician. It\u2019s quirky but very thought out. There\u2019s also a section with me on guitar and my dad, Rob, on the keys playing in tandem that was purely improvised and is just so raw and organic. It\u2019s a really fun track overall.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a significant moment in any artist\u2019s life when a new creative path opens, and there\u2019s an overwhelming sense of that on So Much More Than a Dream<\/em>, an album that not only reflects Josh\u2019s life journey, but also makes an undeniably original musical statement in an age when everyone seems to be searching for \u201cauthenticity.\u201d To return to film analogies, Josh likes to cite a line from The French Dispatch<\/em>, made by one of his favourite directors, Wes Anderson: \u201cHowever you go about it, just make it seem like you did it on purpose.\u201d There is no doubt that Josh Ritchie does everything with purpose.<\/p>\n Josh Ritchie\u2019s So Much More Than A Dream<\/em> is out now via Merilainen Music on all digital platforms<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Josh Ritchie Live:<\/strong>
Nov. 8 \u2013 Motel Chelsea, Chelsea, QC
Nov. 9 \u2013 Musiikki Cafe, Kingston, ON<\/p>\n