Casual encounters often end up being the most fruitful; they usually give me even greater satisfaction than those actively sought after. This album is no exception, having come into my hands in a haphazard way and becoming, without a doubt, one of my favorites of the last two years.

I confess to not knowing the previous work of Josh Rouse, an American singer-songwriter from Nashville, whom I am told tends towards the melancholy and has at least one remarkable album, "Home". However, this work captivated me from the first listen. Ten songs, ten of refined, imaginative, inspired singer-songwriter music in the vein of James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Eric Andersen, and the list could go on, enriched by numerous references to other music from that era (Al Green, the "Philly sound," Steely Dan, even a bit of "Disco").
1972 is the artist's birth year, so the musical memories must not all be firsthand. But the "miracle" of the album is that it makes you relive the seventies' atmospheres, immersing you in that controversial period without dripping with nostalgia, a noble sentiment but only in homeopathic doses. The instrumentation is decidedly vintage with sax, Wurlitzer, vibraphones, but used with rigor and never yielding to philological temptation.

An album without a drop in tone; tracks held together by the underlying idea, pop-inspired, yet different in style; the impression is as if each of them refers to one of the songs Josh listened to on the radio as a child, suddenly resurfaced to assert their influence.
From this sort of psychoanalytic session emerges the portrait of a regenerated artist, in a state of grace, who looks to those roots to reconstruct, relying on both imagination and memory, his story, which is also that of an entire generation.

Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos

01   1972 (03:48)

She was feelin' 1972
Groovin' to a Carole King tune
Is it too late baby?
It it too late?

That boy was always up to no good
Smokin' pot and playin' pool
In the afternoon
Unemployed and high

We're goin' through the changes
Hopin' for replacement
Until we find a way out of this hole

Spanish girl with a tattoo
Workin' nights at the drive-thru
And she asks herself
Could this be all?

Screwin' in a motel room
Watchin' news on channel two
Victoria tell me
Where is your dream?

We're going through the changes
Hopin' for replacement
Until we find a way out of this

We're going through the changes
Hopin' for replacement
Until we find a way out of this

A way out of this hole
Out of this hole
Out of this hole
Oh
Oh

02   Love Vibration (04:51)

03   Sunshine (Come on Lady) (02:54)

04   James (05:01)

05   Slaveship (03:10)

06   Come Back (Light Therapy) (04:38)

07   Under Your Charms (03:45)

08   Flight Attendant (04:46)

09   Sparrows Over Birmingham (04:59)

Fell down on both knees
You were young
Bones still soft
Legs fell numb

Oh how those sparrows sang for you

So you grew up
An isolated pup
You had some books
You had some love

Oh God was watching over you
Oh how those sparrows sang for you

You witnessed a man
A holy man
Touched your head
With his gentle hands

Oh God was watching over you

Lived in a house
In birmingham
A preacher's son
The Lord's plan

Oh God was watching over you
Oh how those sparrows sang for two

When you arrived
Carried you there
Hear the preacher's son
Your only love

Oh God was watching over you

Wedding bells rang
(Wedding bells ring)
Church choir sang
(Church choir sing)
A gospel song
(Whoa-oh oh whoa)
A beautiful one
(A beautiful one)

Oh such a melancholy tune
(It's a sad tune mmmm-mmm)
Oh how it reminds me of you

10   Rise (05:10)

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