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“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, Allmusic.com
You don’t have to work hard to enjoy Rouse’s music. His songs present themselves to you with an open heart, an innate intelligence and an absolute lack of pretension. They are clear-eyed, empathetic and penetrating. Without pandering, they seek to satisfy both your ear and your understanding. The verses draw you in with telling detail, both musical and thematic, and the choruses lift and deliver. They resolve without seeming overly tidy or pat.
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). The album’s acclaim led to tours with Aimee Mann, Mark Etzel and the late Vic Chestnut. The followup- Home (2000)—yielded the song “Directions” which Cameron Crowe used in his film Vanilla Sky.
“Every time I’ve made a record, I’ve tried to make it different from the last one,” says Rouse. “I always became fascinated by a different style of music. 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.”
For his breakthrough album, 1972 (2003), which happens to be the year he was born, Rouse decided to cheer up a bit. 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. The follow up, Nashville (2005) continued the hot streak and expanded his audience further.
After relocating to Valencia, Spain with his wife Paz, Rouse has released a steady stream of high quality songs and albums. Subtitulo (2006) contained the international indie folk hit "Quiet Town". On El Turista (2010) he even experimented with writing and singing some songs in Spanish. 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.'
His most recent release, The Embers of Time, was one of his strongest—self-described as “my surreal, ex-pat, therapy record.” Charles Pitter astutely noted in Pop Matters. “The critics may long for drama and scandal, but The Embers of Time often demonstrates that a simple life could be for the best.”
About Walter Martin:
Walter Martin is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with rock 'n' roll bands The Walkmen (lyricist, co-writer, multi-instrumentalist 2000-2013) and Jonathan Fire*Eater (co-writer, organist 1994-1998). In 2014 Martin launched a solo career and has subsequently released four studio albums: two award winning family albums (2014's We're All Young Together and 2017's My Kinda Music) and two critically acclaimed albums for adults (2016's Arts & Leisure and 2018's Reminisce Bar & Grill).
Martin has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR's All Things Considered, The Atlantic, Pitchfork, NPR's Morning Edition, USA Today, The Guardian, SPIN, NPR Music, Billboard, WNYC and various other press outlets. In addition to making his albums, Martin creates original music and songs for film and television. Martin's songs have been featured in major advertising campaigns including commercials for Apple and Google. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters.