Jack Cattabiani, 'Rousseau' 

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• Courtesy
• Jack Cattabiani, Rousseau

(Self-released, digital)

There's no right way to make a breakup album. Heartbreak is one of the chief inspirations in songwriting, and however musicians transcribe that pain, the music is about the end result. As listeners, we want the sorrow, the regret, the anger; we want to hear someone sing the things we couldn't say in real life to someone who broke our heart.

Burlington-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jack Cattabiani decided to process his heartache by isolating himself in a cabin in the Vermont woods for four days. With not a single note written, Cattabiani spent the following 96 or so hours composing and recording all four songs on his new EP, Rousseau.

It's actually the second time Cattabiani, who plays bass with Middlebury funk-jazz-jam band the Big Sip, sequestered himself to make a record on the fly. 2021's Owl's Head also featured four songs written and recorded in four days, and Cattabiani laid down every note of the music himself. Both EPs reflect his wide-ranging talents as a player and songwriter, but there's a vulnerability to the songs on Rousseau that gives his latest effort an edge.

Opener "Your Breath" is a breezy, summery jazz tune, with layers of stacked vocals and Cattabiani's bobbing and weaving bass line underpinning the song. A guitar figure reminiscent of Stan Getz's "The Girl From Ipanema" gives the tune an effortlessly cool vibe, even as Cattabiani croons about distance growing between lovers.

"Motions" leans into nightclub jazz as Cattabiani sings a hushed vocal over Latin-influenced percussion and a dark, minor-key progression. "Take myself through the motions just to make it through / It's all I can do / It's sad but it's true," he laments. It's as if heartache had frozen him in stasis emotionally and he's staring at the end of a relationship like a motorist who can't rip his eyes from a crash on the highway.

Things lighten up marginally on "Want It All." Cattabiani's voice has a subdued, warm nature that conveys a tender aesthetic in which his songs dwell snugly. The sounds on Rousseau are soft and comforting, operating as a sonic blanket for those left in the cold by the loss of love. Even in jammier moments, Cattabiani keeps a tight leash, reining in flourishes quickly and only giving glimpses of his prodigious chops.

While his new EP doesn't exactly have the venom of something like Marvin Gaye's bitter divorce record, Here, My Dear, Cattabiani does end it on a more jagged note. On "Dream of You," he lets his ex know that, despite all the pain, he still dreams of them every night. But are they good dreams? And, if so, can they alleviate the broken heart?

"Hope I never have to see you again," he sings toward the end of the EP. But he wonders a few lines later if they perhaps still think of him. And isn't that the true essence of a breakup record? "Fuck you. I miss you."

Rousseau is available on Spotify and Apple Music.