Yep Roc Records label-mates Josh Rouse and Grant-Lee Phillips are touring internationally together for the first time.
The acclaimed singer/songwriters are on the road in support of their newest albums, Rouse’s Love in the Modern Age and Phillips’ Widdershins, and come to Milton Keynes on Sunday (April 28).
Late last year, the creatives released a co-written, co-produced track, ‘Empire State’, to promote their October US tour.
The songwriting process for the single began 15 years ago when Grant-Lee and Josh first met.
The pair only got halfway through the song during that initial songwriting session and it went into a drawer...until now. With the two both living in Nashville, they decided to unearth the old song. The final touches, the late arriving lyrics and a new bridge section gave new weight to the whole song.
“I’ve admired Josh Rouse’s music for a long while, “ says Phillips, “I love that he’s always taking his songs to new places, making new discoveries. On a road-trip like this, you find yourselves sharing notes, bouncing ideas off each other, trading guitar chords, keeping each other awake on the highway. It’s a full-on mobile summit.“
Rouse added: “I have admired Grant since my early 20’s. When Mighty Joe Moon came out my friends and I thought it was the best record we’d ever heard. I actually sent fan mail! So sharing the stage with him will be a dream come true.”
Capturing the aesthetics of a specific moment in time, Rouse’s Love in the Modern Age takes inspiration from the sound and production of early 1980's releases by The Blue Nile, The Style Council and Prefab Sprout.
Trading in his trusty acoustic guitar for a synthesizer, Love in the Modern Age still bears Rouse's distinct fingerprints even as it pushes his limits and forges a bold new chapter more than twenty years into his celebrated career.
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