ABOUT JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ
Born in Sweden to Argentinian parents who fled the 1976 military coup via Brazil, José González grew up in Gothenburg, where his early taste for Latin and folk music was soon overshadowed by a growing love for more commercial pop and, later, rock, hardcore and punk. Having played in a number of noisy bands, however, he returned to a more peaceful style with the Swedish release by Imperial Recordings of his debut solo album, 2003’s Veneer. Wielding just a classical guitar, González sang songs of hypnotic intimacy, whether his own, like the evergreen ‘Crosses’, or covers like The Knife’s ‘Heartbeat’. Though recorded in his cramped apartment, with just one guest invited to contribute trumpet to its final song, ‘Broken Arrows’, the record proved successful enough to prompt him to quit his studies for a Ph.D in biochemistry.
In 2005, Veneer received an international release courtesy of Peacefrog in Europe and Mute in the USA, when it was met with similar acclaim. In The Independent, eminent British critic Andy Gill highlighted its broad appeal, praising “a compelling mood... which recalls Nick Drake, Simon & Garfunkel, Kings Of Convenience, Tim Buckley’s folk-jazz, Brazilian Tropicalismo singers like João Gilberto and Caetano Veloso, and José Feliciano”
On his follow-up, 2007’s In Our Nature, González’s arrangements subtly enlarged upon his deceptively simple, minimalist neo-folk template. Praised by Pitchfork as “a more thoughtful and atmospheric work”, its songs on occasion provoked by his reading of Richard Dawkins and Peter Singer, were quietly more ambitious – ‘Cycling Trivialities’ even stretched to more than eight minutes long – while an interpretation of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ further broadened his appeal.