The title is a slight misnomer: despite the occasional presence of pedal steel guitar, and at least one languid country boogie, it's not, as you might expect, a country album, but more an homage to the modern-day Nashville music scene - the fringe folk/rock scene that fostered such names as Lambchop and Gillian Welch, and in which Rouse learnt his craft during his 10-year residence there. It's not as deliberately period-specific as 1972 - how could it be, when the track "Middle School Frown" involves Rouse's reminiscence of his adolescent yen for a dangerous, dark-eyed, Eighties New Wave beauty? - but if anything, Nashville offers a more crafted approximation of the typical singer-songwriter project. His retro attitude is signalled by the album's compact, quality-not-quantity size, and its division of the 10 songs into two notional sides, as if it were an updated edition of an original period vinyl album but it's Rouse's command of the songwriterly tropes, and producer Brad Jones' masterly marshalling of the instrumental settings, that give the album its distinctive, timeless ambience, at once ancient and modern. The Mediterranean Gardener - the album from my new project Isla - will be out worldwide digitally on August 27 Until The Sun Comes Out is streaming now. And in 2019 he tackled the Christmas album on The Holiday Sounds of Josh Rouse but instead of well-worn carols or classics, he wrote an entire record of original holiday themed pop songs.With Nashville, Josh Rouse continues his stylistic re-imagining of the early-1970s era that he so beautifully evoked on 2003's 1972. The Embers of Time, was one of his strongest-self-described as “my surreal, ex-pat, therapy record.” He followed that up with Love In the Modern Age, which took its musical inspiration from the thinking man’s pop of the eighties: The Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout and the Style Council. In 2014, he won a Goya Award (the Spanish equivalent of an Oscar) for best song for "Do You Really Want To Be In Love," from the film 'La Gran Familia Española.' On El Turista (2010) he even experimented with writing and singing some songs in Spanish. Subtitulo (2006) contained the international indie folk hit "Quiet Town". The follow up, Nashville (2005) continued the hot streak and expanded his audience further.Īfter relocating to Valencia, Spain with his wife Paz, Rouse has released a steady stream of high quality songs and albums. Noting that he’d earned a reputation for melancholy, he says, with a laugh, “I figured this is my career, I might as well try to enjoy it.” While the Seventies are often identified with singer-songwriters, Rouse was primarily attracted to the warmer sound of albums back then, as well as the more communal feel of the soul music of that time. But at the end of the day, no matter how eclectic I try to make it, it’s my voice and melodic sensibility that tie things together.”įor his breakthrough album, 1972 (2003), which happens to be the year he was born, Rouse decided to cheer up a bit. “I always became fascinated by a different style of music.
“Every time I’ve made a record, I’ve tried to make it different from the last one,” says Rouse. The followup- Home (2000)-yielded the song “Directions” which Cameron Crowe used in his film Vanilla Sky. The album’s acclaim led to tours with Aimee Mann, Mark Etzel and the late Vic Chestnut.
Josh Rouse was born in Nebraska, and following an itinerant upbringing he eventually landed in Nashville where he recorded his debut Dressed Like Nebraska (1998). They resolve without seeming overly tidy or pat. The verses draw you in with telling detail, both musical and thematic, and the choruses lift and deliver. Without pandering, they seek to satisfy both your ear and your understanding. In 2014, he won a Goya Award (the Spanish equivalent of an Oscar) for best. The followup Home (2000) yielded the song Directions which Cameron Crowe used in his film Vanilla Sky. The album’s acclaim led to tours with Aimee Mann, Mark Etzel, and the late Vic Chestnut.
They are clear-eyed, empathetic and penetrating. Josh Rouse recorded his debut Dressed Like Nebraska in 1998. His songs present themselves to you with an open heart, an innate intelligence and an absolute lack of pretension. You don’t have to work hard to enjoy Rouse’s music. “Like a baseball player who quietly hits 30 home runs every year or a golfer who regularly finishes in the Top Ten, Josh Rouse 's continued streak of excellence is easy to ignore and maybe even downplay a little” - Tim Sendra,