Josh Rouse: El Turista (Bedroom Classics)

 |   |  <1 min read

Josh Rouse: Duerme
Josh Rouse: El Turista (Bedroom Classics)

The musically itinerant Josh Rouse has long been an Elsewhere favourite for his musical curiosity (Seventies singer-songwriters, Nashville, indie-rock and so on) and he doesn't disappoint here as he gets his passport stamped and takes off for the tropical pleasures of Brazilian moods and music (in Portuguese mostly) which come subtlely orchestrated or deliciously understated.

And yes, by its very title he acknowledges he is just a tourist in this music and not bringing a deep and authentic attitude to it.

But that hardly matters because as this flows past, elevated by strings, with touches of American folk and pop (I Will Live on Islands sounds like it fell off Paul Simon's Graceland), in what is perhaps remarkably clumsy Portuguese sometimes, you just get swept up in the sheer pleasure he is taking.

A slight Rouse album, but he does slight with more depth than most. 

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Durand Jones and the Indications: Private Space (Dead Oceans/digital outlets)

Durand Jones and the Indications: Private Space (Dead Oceans/digital outlets)

This beautifully slinky, synth-soul album slips around you like a comfort blanket from the glorious opener Love Will Work It Out through to the final falsetto soul of I Can See. But don't be... > Read more

Kurt Shanks: Blood Line Heart (Plus1/Aeroplane)

Kurt Shanks: Blood Line Heart (Plus1/Aeroplane)

At a crucial point in the lovely Auckland-located ballad These Are The Days, the mood drops, hooking you with intimacy, and Kurt Shanks speak-sings, “No, I don't desire any sales pitch... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

DOES HUMOUR BELONG IN MUSIC? (2021): Does anybody remember laughter?

DOES HUMOUR BELONG IN MUSIC? (2021): Does anybody remember laughter?

If you look at the charts, MTV or scoure your way through iTunes or whatever you'd be mistaken for thinking that songwriters only ever write about serious stuff. Not at all, there is a looooong... > Read more

LOVE AND MERCY, a bio-pic by BILL POHLAD

LOVE AND MERCY, a bio-pic by BILL POHLAD

Murray Cammick – whose knowledge about and passion for soul music are not to be questioned – had an interesting criticism of Get On Up, the biographical film of James Brown's life.... > Read more