Yep Roc

On his eighth album, El Turista, the immensely talented ex-pat singer/songwriter Josh Rouse embraces the warm breezes of Valencia, Spain. The Spanish – and in the case of Turista, Latin and Brazilian – influence has been cropping up in Rouse’s music since 2006’s Subtitulo. And since then, it’s largely worked, whether overtly in a song’s sound or subtly in an album’s mood. However, with Turista, the Spanish flair falters. While clearly fluent, the songs featuring Rouse singing in Spanish ( “Las Voces,” “Valencia” ) often feel forced and almost campy (his two covers by Cuban singer Bola de Nieve fair better). The album’s extensive use of strings, a feature Rouse has used to perfect embellishment in the past, veers toward saccharine. Where Rouse succeeds, as always, is in his original compositions that tell stories like the vivacious prisoner’s dream, “I Will Live on Islands.”