José González

Jose Gonzalez will release his first solo album in seven years, Vestiges &Claws on 16 Feb 2015 via Peacefrog Records.
“Every age has its turn / Every branch of the tree has to learn/ Learn to grow, find itsway / Make the best of this short-lived stay” - José González
It’s the quiet ones we should watch, they always say. Which is particularly astuteadvice right now, when loud, constant self-declaration and saturated “brand” visibilityhave become the norm. But above the babble and brightness, some voices willalways speak quiet volumes -– with calm eloquence and the kind of certitude thatcomes from valuing the playing out, not just the prize. Sweden’s José González isjust such a voice. He first charmed his way into the UK’s earshot via the murmurousand elegant, classically finger-picked folk pop of his 2005 album, Veneer, which hassince sold over a staggering 430, 000 copies in UK alone. Two years later came InOur Nature, a further exploration of José’s influences (Argentinian Folklore, the ’60sUS folk tradition and the British pastoral folk-pop style of the same era), on which heresisted the temptation to beef up his alluringly introvert aesthetic. The albums madethe UK Top 10 and Top 20 respectively. It may be seven years since he released asolo record, but José has been anything but idle in that time. He’s delivered twoalbums with the band Junip, his more fulsome, electronic-edged, pop project andhas toured with both the Berlin/Göteborg String Theory orchestra (in 2011), coperforming11 reworking’s of his songs, Sidi Touré and played with Malian desertblues troupe Tinariwen (both in 2012). In 2013, Hollywood came calling when BenStiller commissioned José to work with Theodore Shapiro on the soundtrack to hisremake of ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ and most recently, he’s contributed hisversion of ‘This is How We Walk On the Moon’ to the Red Hot charity compilationhonouring Arthur Russell. Community and collaboration are obviously satisfying intheir own ways, but now José is again stepping centre stage solo, with Vestiges &Claws. Conceived as the natural third part in an acoustic trilogy, Vestiges &Claws is a(nother) hushed and delicate solo set that forefronts the artist andguitarist’s compellingly intimate vocal style and intricate playing technique, but it’soften strikingly rhythmic in nature and cohere’s perfectly, with hand claps and taps onthe body of his instrument underlining the songs’ mantric rise-and-fall pattern, whileelsewhere, over-dubbed guitar parts and multi-tracked vocal harmonies entwineto sweetly immersive effect. The title refers to both cultural practices and biologicalfeatures that survive despite having lost their original function, and to currently usefultools, ie the “claws” of modern life.
Vestiges & Claws was recorded almost entirely by José and self-produced, mostly inhis Gothenburg home, using computer plug-ins to achieve a warm, analogue sound.He prefers working alone, mainly for artistic reasons. “There were a couple of thingsthat enabled me to complete this record: one was curiosity, to be able to playpercussion and do a lot of harmonies and also to produce and mix the album; theother was aesthetics. I love to listen to Arthur Russell and Shuggie Otis, to music thathas been done mostly by one person in their solitary state.” As José sees it, therecord is his personal, “zoomed-out eye on humanity on a small, pale blue dot in acold, sparse and unfriendly space. The amazing fact that we are all here, an attemptat encouraging us to understand ourselves and to make the best of the one life weknow we have – after birth and before death.” Vestiges & Claws Tracklist: WithThe Ink Of A Ghost / Let It Carry You / Stories We Build. Stories We/ Tell / TheForest / Leaf Off/The Cave / Every Age / What Will / Vissel / Afterglow / Open Book