Josh Rouse - Under The Cold Blue Stars

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 13 / 3 / 2002

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Maybe with this, his third full-length album, Josh Rouse will finally be given the attention by the media and the resulting acceptance by a wider audience that Ryan Adams has recently achieved. Certainly Rouse’s profile has been raised of late, no doubt due to the inclusion of one of his songs, ’Direction’, on the soundtrack of Cameron Crowe’s recent film 'Vanilla Sky'. Rouse’s songs have also been heard in TV shows such as 'Ed', 'Roswell' and 'Dawson’s Creek'. Apart from his two previous albums Rouse has also collaborated with fellow Nashville resident Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner on the 5 song EP, ‘Chester’. But there are two main reasons why someone who has not heard his debut ‘Dressed Up Like Nebraska’, or the follow up album ‘Home’, might pass up on this latest offering. Firstly, like it or not (and Rouse has made it clear that he is not happy about it), he has been put in the singer-songwriter pigeonhole. Of course he is a singer-songwriter. He writes and plays his own songs, but not in the accepted classic 60s / 70s definition of the genre. He simply shouldn’t be grouped in with the ‘ guy and his guitar’ boring type of singer-songwriter. Neil Young is a prime example of a singer-songwriter who has transcended the burden of being called such a thing and Rouse should be thought of along the same lines as Young. Secondly we are informed that this is a concept album, albeit a very loose one. Another word to scare off potential listeners. But it shouldn’t this time as you can drop into any one of the eleven songs here without realising that there is a common thread and still enjoy the beauty in Rouse’s melodies and lyrics which grow with each listen. After writing the first few songs for this album, Rouse realised that they dealt with a relationship so he decided to link them together more like a screenplay to tell the story of the life, trials and tribulations of a mid-western small town couple. Rouse also took inspiration from his own relatives, and from stories he had heard about his grandparents and relatives who had died before he was born. Rouse’s haunting, plaintive vocals sound vaguely familiar. He readily admits to being infatuated with The Cure and Morrissey’s ‘Viva Hate’ during his teens, but it’s hard to pinpoint his influences. He has a knack of making you feel part of his songs, like you know these people and after a couple of plays, his melodies are strong and catchy enough to make you feel like you’ve been listening to them for years, and that like they’ve always been there. This is due in no small part to the production by Roger Moutenot who produced Freedy Johnston’s best album to date, ‘Blue Days Black Nights’ along with T. Bone Burnett. Moutenot has also worked with talents as diverse as Lou Reed and Paula Cole and it’s his production that makes these songs feel like old, comforting friends. Rouse's previous albums had a very sparse instrumentation, but this time loops, processed strings and brass are all added to the texture, and, in involving more musicians than his other albums, this helps to bring out the beauty in his songs. Although the gorgeous melodies, which Rouse seems to be able to write with ease, carry all these songs it is a shame that this release suffers from the age old problem of the lyrics not being printed in the CD inlay. The lyrics are not always clear, especially on the first few listens, and even more so if being listened to in a car for example. As Rouse is telling a story in his songs here, it would have been nice to have them included. Of course the fact that the songs wrap themselves around you and beg you to listen more closely to the lyrics only highlights the talent he has for penning such beguiling songs. Highlight? The heartbreaking sadness of ‘Ugly Stories’, the sound of a relationship falling apart which, with it’s short instrumental ending, somehow gives hope for the future.

Track Listing:-

1 Twilight
2 Nothing Gives Me Pleasure
3 Miracle
4 Christmas with Jesus
5 Under Cold Blue Stars
6 Ugly Stories
7 Feeling No Pain
8 Ears to the Ground
9 Summer Kitchen Ballad
10 Women and Men
11 The Whole Night Through

Band Links:-

https://en-gb.facebook.com/joshrouse/
http://www.joshrouse.com/
https://twitter.com/iamjoshrouse

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