Press release –
After previewing his third album So Much More Than A Dream with the anthemic track “Numb,” Canadian singer/songwriter Josh Ritchie today shares the second single, “September Talks,” an autumnal folk-pop gem with a twist. It’s one of 11 songs on So Much More Than A Dream that blur the lines between modern rock, experimental folk, and contemporary r&b. The album will be released through Meriläinen Music on Oct. 17.
Josh constructed “September Talks” in three parts, beginning with a finger-picked acoustic guitar figure and building up to a heavy, almost prog-rock guitar solo. The sense of growing tension reflects Josh’s feelings on the changing seasons, as he explains.
“I have never liked fall. The end of summer always meant the end of my favourite things. Soccer season, music festivals and parties at the cottage all got replaced with school — my least favourite thing — cold weather and an inevitable case of the flu. ‘September Talks’ personifies that fear of inevitable and inescapable change.”
So Much More Than A Dream 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’s hardly a stretch to say that theme mirrors much of Ritchie’s life to this point, having grown up BIPOC in Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula. Much of his music to date has been a product of his experiences, but on So Much More Than A Dream he pours his soul into each song.
Josh explains, “There are a lot of great things about the part of Ontario where I grew up—and still live in—but for a mixed race kid who wore loud clothes and sang in choirs, it was far from easy. I’m 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.”
Musically, So Much More Than A Dream is in many ways 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 from it.
“I think with this record I’ve learned how to use the studio as an instrument,” he says. “I have always loved recording and especially recording myself. It’s 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.”
It’s a significant moment in any artist’s life when a new creative path opens, and there’s an overwhelming sense of that on So Much More Than A Dream, an album that not only reflects Josh Ritchie’s life journey, but also makes an undeniably original musical statement in an age when everyone seems to be searching for “authenticity.”
Track listing:
01 The Revolution Pt. 1
02 Numb
03 September Talks
04 Celestial
05 New Year’s Eve
06 Renaissance Man
07 Vancouver
08 Small Town Boys
09 On Repeat
10 Always
11 The Revolution Pt. 2
JOSH RITCHIE LIVE:
Oct 18 (Sat) :: FMO 2025 Ottawa :: Music Ontario Private Showcase
Nov 8 (Sat) :: Chelsea QC :: Motel Chelsea
Nov 9 (Sun) :: Kingston ON :: Musiikki Cafe
