JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ
Veneer
Hidden Agenda/Parasol
· Catch the våg, it's a Swedish invasion
José González, whose Argentinean and Swedish roots are evident on Veneer, is part of a wave of plaintive singer-songwriters – including Jens Lekman and Nicolai Dunger –gaining support worldwide, to the point where a blog called Swedes Please started in Illinois. The album has been released on a number of taste-making labels internationally, including Peacefrog in the U.K., whose reputation for techno and house prompted Veneer to be considered a folk-based pause for the rave generation. González draws from electronic culture, with "Heartbeats," one of Veneer's highlights, coming from hotly touted Swedish techno duo The Knife. Though Peacefrog extol González's "perfect, crystalline English" on their website, the evocative nature of his songs comes from minimal, often vague, language, as well as quasi-words, including "overflooded" on the lovely "Crosses." The result is further obscured when González locates his voice between melody and rhythm lines on guitar, Veneer's key instrumental colour (aside from a lone trumpet on "Broken Arrow"). Veneer recalls Nick Drake and Elliot Smith – currently rivalling Jeff Buckley for posthumous influence – who said more by saying less, as well as Paul Simon and Caetano Veloso. One definition of the album suggests a camouflage of character defect under superficial attractiveness. José González strives for the opposite here, 11 simple statements of rewarding depth.
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