Tag Archives: Josh Rouse

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Josh Rouse – El Turista

It’s fascinating to watch artists follow their muse to unexpected places.

Earlier this year, Rufus Wainwright released a collection of mournful chamber pieces featuring just his piano and vocals. And now we have masterful pop songwriter Josh Rouse, born and raised in the Midwest, putting out a new album sung half in Spanish.

I mention these two albums together because both artists have proved themselves eminently capable of smart, crowd-friendly pop music but neither appears all that interested in selling CDs. They’d rather stretch their musical muscles into new and unexpected directions — an opera here, a bossa nova there — and trust their loyal fans to follow.

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Song of the Day #668: ‘Comeback (Light Therapy)’ – Josh Rouse

Here’s a wonderful song from Josh Rouse’s 1972 album, which is chock full of wonderful songs.

This album is an example of an artist firing on all creative cylinders, with songwriting, performance and production all top-notch. I imagine that when he recorded 1972 Rouse was in the sort of zone star athletes get into during a big game, when everything they try works out just right.

Or maybe that’s not how it works at all. Maybe this album was the result of weeks of trial and error, takes and retakes, and input from scores of people and it all somehow managed to come out brilliantly in the end.

In either case, I’m impressed.

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Song of the Day #590: ‘London Bridges’ – Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse kept up his ‘one album per year’ pace and released Country Mouse City House in 2007. The album picked up where Subtitulo left off, both thematically and musically, and for my money it’s the first Rouse release that suggests he’s treading water.

That perception won’t last, however, as I’ve just read about Rouse’s next album, due out in March of this year. It’s called Turista and based on the clips I’ve heard, he has now had enough time to immerse himself in his Spanish surroundings that it’s showing up in big ways in his music.

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Song of the Day #589: ‘It Looks Like Love’ – Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse spent the year after Nashville‘s release in Spain, where he moved in with girlfriend Paz Suay. So the Nebraska boy who made his name in Nashville was suddenly a Spaniard.

His next release, 2006’s Subtitulo, reflected the move in its lyrics as well as, to some degree, its music. The album is predominantly made up of Rouse’s brand of smart acoustic pop but he introduced a few Latin flavors, including Suay’s charming vocals on one track.

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Song of the Day #586: ‘Sad Eyes’ – Josh Rouse

In 2005, Josh Rouse released Nashville, my favorite of his albums and (probably not coincidentally) the one that introduced me to his work. Every track on this album is superb. Listening to it as preparation for this blog entry, I started reconsidering placing it at only #8 on my decade’s-best list.

In contrast to the two concept-heavy records that preceded it, Nashville is just a collection of songs. But the musical exploration of those records helped settle Rouse into a songwriting groove that had him hitting the sweet spot on every one of these tracks. From the Smiths-inspired ‘Welcome to the Hamptons’ to the blues-swing of ‘Why Won’t You Tell Me What,’ every note feels like the right one.

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