Since the moment I heard some of his songs, I have always wanted to get more interested in José Gonzalez’ music but for some reasons never really took the time. So I decided to learn more about this singer-songwriter, some have described as full of contrasts: Despite his Argentine name, he is Swedish, and his music has nothing to do with ABBA’s or Robyn’s but is rather built around very quite vocals and impressively intricate acoustic guitar. From hearing his quiet pieces, it is also very difficult to imagine that the first band he played in was a Black Flag inspired hardcore band! The last distinction would also be his cover songs whose renditions some have said surpass his own songs.
Beside his guitar, there is not much else, just some percussion and some backing vocals, the music is stripped down to its minimum, but the sound is nevertheless big and seems multi layered because of the brilliance of his finger-picking technique.
There is something almost ancient about his music, sure you can hear the Latin influences, but it’s also pure and mystically charming like an old incantation you could listen for hours without being tired even though it seems repetitive. His cover of Massive attack’s ‘Teardrop’ is an interesting take that brings a different folkloric atmosphere to the song.
As he was preparing his PhD in Biochemistry, he decided to pursue his musical career, but did not quite forget everything about science since his second album ‘In Our Nature’ has lyrics partially inspired by famous evolutionist biologist Richard Dawkins and bio-ethicist Peter Singer, this has to be quite unique in the music world.
I really see this in lines like ‘Not much of what you say makes any sense. Cook up some myths, then ask for obedience. Even though you mean well, well most of the time, you’re aided delusion and created bais in our minds’ in ‘Abram’, or ‘What’s the point with a love that makes you hate and kill for’ in ‘Killing for love’.
José has also another project, a band named Junip which was his previous group before his solo career took off and whose single ‘Always’ was released on July 27th. But Junip’s music, although not too different, has to be the subject of another post.