We’re excited to be welcoming Josh Rouse back to Band on the Wall – with special guest Kathryn Williams! Josh Rouse has signed to New West Records and will release his label debut Museums and Women on 23 October. The 10-song set was produced by Brad Jones, who also produced Rouse’s critically acclaimed 2003 album 1972. Museums and Women showcases Rouse at his most hopeful and romantic, balancing casual poetry and wry humour in equal measure as he conjures up a cast full of drifters and dreamers moving through life with quiet satisfaction. The music is often bittersweet, with a gentle, seemingly placid surface that belies the deep well of emotion and memory and desire underneath. The result is a lush, cinematic exploration of the endless stream of passing strangers who slip in and out of our lives on a daily basis. He says, ‘I was drawn to these songs because they’re so observational. They’re full of characters and stories I dreamed up from little moments that sparked my imagination on the road. At the end of the day, though, it’s inevitable that I’m in there somewhere, too.’ Special guest is Kathryn Williams. Williams is a British Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter. With 17 albums under her belt in the last 27 years, her last solo album, Night Drives, debuted at No. 2 in the official folk album charts, while her last album, a collaboration with Withered Hand titled Willson Williams was nominated for the SAY and AMA awards. Her latest album, Mystery Park, is out now.