Computer Age

Jose Gonzalez
Veneer
Hidden Agenda 2005

Jose Gonzalez is a Swedish musician of Argentine origin, this peculiar condition in part explains its peculiar sound, influenced both by the musicians heard in his adolescence and youth, particularly Anglo-Saxon pop and rock, for the music they listened to their parents, basically folk and rock in Spanish, Nueva Trova, Silvio Rodriguez ...
Though it may seem difficult to assimilate, to the music of Jose Gonzalez can be observed all these influences as diverse, from the intimate folk of Nick Drake, who reminded powerfully, to sounds closest to the Bossa or Silvio Rodriguez. All this in a first job, "Veneer", compact and colorful.
Although the disc was released in Sweden in 2003, it was not until two years later when he came to the UK market, where thanks to a pair of brilliant strokes of marketing (her version of The Knife "Heartbeats" rang in a notice of Sony) began to climb through the roof in the charts. The music of Jose Gonzalez, however, has nothing to maneuver trading. It sounds so pure, so genuine, so real that certainly scares. Accompanied only by a classical guitar, and his voice has managed to create some of the most shocking songs that have been heard in years. His way of playing is one of the main links with Nick Drake, plays with an unorthodox technique, minimalist and accurate. His voice, deep, warm and close to create a particularly intimate atmosphere.
Jose Gonzalez's music is designed to embellish these moments of solitude that we all suffer and that some have learned to enjoy, to accompany think of the thoughts and dreams on those nights without guidance and without end.
While the album is really compact and has no filler items, there are some that stand out above the rest. In the aforementioned "Heartbeats," a delicious charged issue of sensitivity, adding that other issues would also round and blunt as "Crosses", "Lovestain" or "Remain" growing up before the listener with a breathtaking majesty.
Jose Gonzalez has, in addition to its burgeoning solo career, a number of projects to which lends her warm voice and his compositions. He has worked with a couple of songs on the latest album from Zero 7, a group of British Trip Hop, and also has his own band, Juniper, which should publish album later this year, so we will have to be alert to the movements of this musician presumed to be truly interesting.