Is this the most un-Christmassy Christmas album of 2019? Maybe it was the 15 years he spent living in sunny Spain, but Nashville singer-songwriter Josh Rouse has written a festive collection almost entirely free from all the snowy tropes of the season.
Apart from fleeting sleigh bells on a couple of tracks, the music meanders from easy-listening jazz to laidback soul. It’s relentlessly pleasant but doesn’t do much to keep us engaged, meaning it is probably destined for sophisticated, no-kids-allowed Christmas dinners.
Some lyrics are worth listening out for. Rouse makes dry, smiley observations — “Hanging out with the in-laws/ They’re really not so bad,” he croons on Easy Man — and humorously imagines a suave Santa on Red Suit, who has his “Ray-Bans on” and “combs his silver curls”.
It’s not all good cheer, though. On Heartbreak Holiday, Rouse declares “‘tis the season to be blue” as he recounts a break-up. He’s decidedly downbeat on Letters in the Mailbox, as he sings gently about writing to a long-distance lover, adding: “I get so lonely this time of year.”
Mariah and Bublé have little to worry about — this album won’t trouble their festive dominance, but it’s a refreshing alternative.
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