Given the current state of the world, titling a song “Things Are Looking Up” might seem either naively optimistic or spectacularly ill-timed. But you could also argue that things are indeed looking up for the song’s author. Due October 23, Josh Rouse’s Museums And Women is already being hailed by insiders as his best work since 2003’s almost universally lauded 1972. It’s also the first LP under a new contract with the artist-friendly New West label.
Museums And Women was produced by Brad Jones, who also helmed 1972 and the (arguably) even better Nashville in 2005. Infused with an accomplished sense of ease, Museums And Women clearly benefits from a loose, immediate recording process in Rouse’s adopted hometown of Nashville. Working with Fred Eltringham on drums and Jones on bass, Rouse tracked songs live in the morning, then returned after lunch for overdubs while the performances were still fresh. Borrowed from a John Updike short story Rouse has long admired, the album’s title captures the 10-song collection’s apparent fascination with observing people from a slight distance.
Which brings us to the weathered protagonist in “Things Are Looking Up.”
“It’s a simple turn toward the positive side, with Valencia in the background,” says Rouse, referring to his former hometown in Spain. “When I wrote this, I had a kind of barfly Bukowski character in mind—someone who’s been around the block a few times and, somewhere in middle age, decides to try and turn things around. Not a grand reinvention, just the feeling that maybe there’s still time to change course.”
“Things Are Looking Up” also reflects the romantic streak running through the album—though Rouse isn’t about to confuse his own measured optimism with a rosy diagnosis of the world at large. “I realize the title might feel a little out of step with what’s happening geopolitically at the moment,” he says. “It’s more personal than that. Things can turn around—sometimes they do. But it’s probably best not to check the news before listening.”
We’re proud to premiere Josh Rouse’s “Things Are Looking Up.”
—Hobart Rowland
See Josh Rouse live.
