Press release –
Meriläinen Music is proud to share “Numb,” the new single by Canadian singer/songwriter Josh Ritchie, and the first preview of his forthcoming third album So Much More Than A Dream, a powerful 11-song collection that blurs the lines between modern rock, experimental folk, and contemporary r&b.
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, as on the first single, “Numb,” which asks the increasingly common question, “Do you believe in anything at all?”
Josh clearly believes in many things, and by firmly pinning his heart to his sleeve on “Numb” and many of the album’s other standout tracks such as “Celestial,” “Vancouver” and “Small Town Boys,” he wants you to believe in them as well.
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.”
