Nebraskan songwriter Josh Rouse has never been too much of a downer. But on his latest record, The Happiness Waltz, happiness as a goal, and as a reality, lights up the entire album. On the wistful "Start Up a Family," Rouse sings "We've seen a lot of bad times / Right now would be a good time to turn it around." The album could have been as easily titled Turn Around Songs. And though many might be cynical about a record called The Happiness Waltz, what's so upsetting about pleasantness?
This is relax-breathe-in-chill-out music for fans of Jack Johnson or Michael Bublé (call it "swing folk" or even better/much worse "swinger-songwriter"). Rouse so effortlessly conjures warmth and ease, and even at it his chilliest his songs fall on the ears as picaresque snowfalls or gentles drizzles of rain. There is nothing dark and stormy about The Happiness Waltz, even if it never feels ecstatic enough to quite live up to its title.
It is impossible to be offended or justifiably upset by the cool nice-guy vibe of "Julie (Come Out of the Rain)" or the seventies sway of "It's Good to Have You." It is also just as difficult to feel any particular attachment to the songs. The music is there to rest in, to play at a café, in an elevator, beside a hammock. Avoiding any sort of catharsis or the sort of profundity Paul Simon (who Rouse at time vocally imitates) brings to his work, The Happiness Waltz is nonetheless so likable, so good natured, that questions of catharsis or depth almost seem irrelevant.
The Happiness Waltz is there to enjoy above all. Following a vague narrative, it finds Rouse searching for a new home with the people he loves. If the record itself can be loved it will be loved for its calmness, for its affability. The Happiness Waltz is the atypical optimistic record done right. And what's to hate about that?
Grade: B
0 comments
Post a Comment