I’ve been something of a Josh Ritter skeptic in the past, hearing nothing but unremarkable, sensitive singer-songwriter blandness, but this nearly 10-minute-long epic from his latest, “The Animal Years,” is enough to make me reconsider that skepticism. It’s dense and poetic like Dylan, but with a little bit of Springsteen-style fist-pumping inspiration thrown in, and it builds from a place of dignity and quiet up to a truly convincing fury.
— T.B.
