The title track sounds great, with another good keyboard melody, a vague 70s soul feel and some nice vibes work from the Autumn Defense's Pat Sansone. Still, it's a fine song, with a good sense of dynamics in the bridge and an ultimately memorable melody.ДЇrom there, 'Christmas with Jesus' enters with some horrid fuzz bass and a less than spectacular melody, and it becomes clear what a mixed bag the rest of the album is going to be. Sadly, Rouse's expertly penned vocal melody is actually upstaged by the keyboards, which simply have a more commanding tone. 'Miracle' follows with a breezy keyboard melody and a brisk beat that grabs the ear perhaps better than anything else on the album. The song is aided by its little sonic nuances, like the little looped guitar sounds in the background and the quietly placed keyboard chords that help contour the verses. The vocals aren't great, but the double-tracking on the chorus of 'And don't you know/ Nothing gives me pleasure like you do/ Nothing has the strength to pull me through' helps considerably. Still, Rouse manages at least a couple strong candidates for a single, with opener 'Nothing Gives Me Pleasure' and 'Miracle.' After a brief, orchestrated intro entitled 'Twilight,' the drums kick in with a spirited rhythm and Rouse enters with only a spare keyboard line for support. His skillful lyrics are also frequently shrouded by his delivery, which is a damn shame because I get the feeling that these little vignettes could be quite affecting if properly read. The problem arises from the fact that Rouse's songs are essentially pop tunes, and they'd be a lot more immediate if someone with a stronger voice were singing them. By and large, Rouse's vocals come off like a less tuneful, more crack-prone Ryan Adams, though, to be fair, it's the old, obviously sincere Ryan Adams he's being compared to here. The biggest problem with this album for me is Rouse himself- not his writing or his composition, but his voice. It's by no means a bad record, and there are even several things about it that make it outstanding, but there are just not enough of those things to make it a truly exceptional album.

Let me be forthright: Under Cold Blue Stars is a rather appropriately titled effort that some will delight in and many more will scarcely offer a second thought to. Today's little slab of pavement comes courtesy of Josh Rouse, a young singer/songwriter with two albums and a collaborative EP with Lambchop's Kurt Wagner under his belt- and, apparently, a lot more where that came from. And we couldn't have that now, could we? No, of course not. For without reviews of all albums great and terrible, and everything that falls in between, Pitchfork would not exist. Plus, I just got an out-of-print Long Fin Killie album that I've been wanting to hear for ages in the mail, and this is keeping me from getting to it.ДЄh, but the show must go on. See, the thing is, listening to these albums over and over again isn't really a chore or anything, but it's the thought that I'm probably not coming back to them any time soon that makes it feel kind of futile. Sometimes I'd rather get one of the pieces of trash from the gutter to review than yet another 5.0-7.0 disc.

It seems like I find myself here a lot when writing reviews.

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