When days and state lines start blending seamlessly into one another on the road, it’s hard not to give into every urge to indulge our imaginations, viewing it all as something cinematic. Blue Ranger’s Josh Marre wrote his second full-length album, Saving A Beauty, while traveling in the summer of 2017 — and it shows. The folk-rock record, which dips in and out of fiction and reality like a reverie, could absolutely, effectively double as a movie soundtrack.
Marre, who has appeared as a guitarist on records by Pinegrove, Cassandra Jenkins, and Onlyness, weaves made-up stories into his own autobiographical observations. Lyrically, he’s influenced by writers along the likes of George Saunders and Zadie Smith, who inspire him to pen what he calls “story songs.”
“Those authors helped me solidify the type of world-building of some of the more fictitious songs on the record,” he explained. “Telling a completely fictitious story in the middle of a largely autobiographical album is sort of a deep sigh of relief for me.”
On each track, Marre’s grizzly vocals are pristinely backed by soaring, twangy guitar bends. The songs were recorded in upstate New York, where Marre hails from and the album a collaborative effort between family and friends, who contributed both musically and are featured in soundbites throughout. It’s a record that’s as existential as it is optimistic, if only because it showcases an artist whose goal was to honestly and communally “achieve personal meditation.”
Marre explains what that concept means to him, as it relates to the record:
“If I got there, I was hoping that would transfer to the listener and put them at ease. A lofty goal, but I think an honest one. I realize this will be the first thing people hear by the band Blue Ranger. I want people to lean in and hear something relatable while flowing with the sound. A lot of times you hear about people getting ‘lost’ in albums. I kind of wanted people to go looking for something, and hopefully, they would find it without getting lost on the way.”
Saving A Beauty drops this Friday, but you can stream the album in full before it comes out below.
