Cheesiness sets in when you take yourself way too seriously and start seeing profundity in a "horse with no name", and can't help spouting garbled lines like "for there ain't no one for to give you no pain". Josh Rouse is corny, but not cheesy, and there is a difference. But the best are the mid tempo tunes that a band like America might have recorded if they hadn't been so goddamned cheesy. Then there are the upbeat, ready for the previous generation's top 40, stompers like Hollywood Bass Player and Nice to Fit In, which he does particularly well, right down to the thoughtful arrangements and the mild crescendos. I assume these songs are for the chicks, so I kind of let them pass.
There are the slow, low key, soulful numbers, like Italian Dry Ice and the closer, Snowy, where he employs a near whisper to convey erotic longing. Listening to the new one, you get the sense that Rouse still has something to say in this format, because while all the songs sound familiar, they still contain some vital spark which keeps you tuned in. When you do something this well, you might as well milk it for all its worth. Hence, Rouse's new cd is a collection of pleasant tunes that could have appeared on any one of his albums, with virtually no attempt to experiment with sounds or rhythms. The Ramones taught us that when the formula works, stick to it.
#JOSH ROUSE COUNTRY MOUSE CITY HOUSE SONGS FULL#
The formula that worked for him best on Nashville, combining 70s California AM pop with Bill Withers soul grooves, is back in full force, making Country Mouse an utterly unoriginal, nearly redundant and irresistibly charming success. Then, the soft acoustic breeze that is Josh Rouse gently blows away those notions, and the first thought that pops into my head, one minute into Sweetie, is that whatever spirit inhabited Rouse during his Spanish sojourn on Subtitulo, seems to have been successfully purged from his system.
It begins with a lilting mellotron figure, set on "flute", that has me thinking I accidentally called up King Crimson's In the Wake of Poseidon on iTunes. Josh Rouse Country Mouse, City House (RCA Music Group)
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