Josh Ritter
The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Sony)

First there's a buzz, a low, lonesome drone that meanders into very faint Tim Buckley-esque jazzy guitar noodling which in turn gives birth to an upbeat, strolling acoustic strum. The sound is a pure and true easygoing rhythm that's soon accompanied by a voice that's even more unwound than the music that carries it. "Ahhh, ah, ah, ahhhh/wait for love," he sings. The vocals, masculine yet dreamy and gorgeous, are quite reminiscent of John Lennon at his joyful best. The song, "Wait for Love," is Josh Ritter at his best on what's likely to wind up being the finest pop record this year.

The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter is, quite simply, a terrific document. It clearly marks Ritter, a heretofore talented and evolving alt-folk artist, as a maturing pop songwriting master. He now completely understands his ever-expanding muse to be one that sees no difference between Nick Lowe ("Right Moves" and "Real Long Distance" are real '70s Stiff nuggets), Spoon ("Mind's Eye" is more ga ga ga than anything Spoon has done since Girls Can Tell), Paul Westerberg ("Empty Hearts" beautifully mimics Westerberg's vocal cadence for its verses) and John Lennon.

Yet, despite what seem like obvious influences and homages, Historical Conquests is pure Ritter. The record is the logical progression of a career that's been becoming more refined and polished with every song written and every album released. Conquests is - for Ritter - expansive in its musical reach to be sure, but it remains keenly focused on songcraft and never takes a misstep in being the sum of its varied parts. It's as much an "album" in the classic sense of the term as anything that's been released in the compact disc era. And this "album" - one you'd have heard your older sister spinning on her bedroom turntable 25 years ago - was created with near flawless perfection. The songs are sequenced beautifully. Some bleed into each other. Others stand alone. Some are perfect pop. And some are classic, simple Ritter folk songs (the warm and very funny/sad "The Temptation of Adam" is a Ritter signature track).

Together, these elements create a mood - a sense of time and place that's neither past nor present. The lines are completely blurred, so much so that Historical Conquests seems to exist wholly out of time's boundaries and grasp much like Lennon's early '70s solo work.

And in the end, perhaps, that's the most appropriate comparison. Historical Conquests, much like the records of Lennon's solo career, is a giant-hearted record that overflows with the sort of idealistic wonder and personality that, while too often confused for naivete, becomes infectious. It's likely to be the most pure Josh Ritter recording - one that truly defines him as an artist - that exists to date. And on it Ritter reaches for a place that perhaps he himself never thought he could actually get to. But get there he does - and then some.