Josh Rouse & The Long Vacations - S/T

Josh Rouse - Amiable singer/songwriter is back and he's got an appropriately named band to boot...living on the island of Valencia and in Spain for the past five years brought out the breezy, globe-trotting sound of Latin music (and more) on his last project El Turista...Rouse and his backing duo The Long Vacations maintain the sunny influences while swinging back to the relaxed acoustic folk/pop that launched Rouse's career a decade ago // Release: Josh Rouse & The Long Vacations (September 27, Bedroom Classics) // Sounds like: with his boyish tenor and classic songwriting influences of early Paul McCartney and Paul Simon, Rouse's catchy, rough-around-the-edges folk/pop struts with a spring in its step...Recorded in Spain, the album's nine sparely decorated tracks shuffle and sway to a variety of continental rhythms -- from reggae beat to flamenco flurry to calypso hand-clap -- with Rouse's deceptively simple melodies dancing nimbly on top...

Quote: "But there’s just so much music in the world now and 70 per cent of it’s the same. If I’m out of step with that, and with the pop charts, OK. And if it does happen that I fall in with all that, I guess I’ll know it’s time to move on again.” // What we like: "Oh, Look What the Sun Did!" (video below) is a Simon-ish charmer that lives up to its bright, sun-speckled title, the perfect soundtrack for a late summer day..."Bluebird St." is one minute and forty-nine seconds of simply-presented piano pop bliss...with just an acoustic guitar, banjo, double bass and stripped drum kit, Rouse and band make the aptly-titled "Moving On" a sprightly, loosely spun charmer..."Fine Fine", the most overly Spanish-influenced track, makes the most of the buoyant Latin rhythms and guitar fills...

Josh Rouse & The Long Vacations - "Movin' On" (from JR&TLV)

Josh Rouse & The Long Vacations - "Bluebird St." (from JR&TLV)