José González will release his fourth solo album, Local Valley, this September. Over the course of nearly two decades in the music biz, the Gothenburg singer-songwriter has built a reputation for artistic consistency. He’s also never been in a rush.
González’s debut album, Veneer, came out in 2003, meaning Local Valley is just his fourth solo effort in a span of 18 years. Though, he did also release two albums and four EPs with the krautrock side project, Junip, during that time. But González’s number one professional priority has always been live performance.
Since attracting international attention midway through the 2000s, González has performed at many of the globe’s biggest music festivals, including Glastonbury and Splendour in the Grass. He’s also played to sold out audiences in church venues and ornate concert halls all over the world, including back-to-back appearances at the Sydney Opera House in 2016.
Ahead of the release of Local Valley, González took a trip to one of his favourite tour locations: The Michelberger Hotel in Berlin’s Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district. Berlin is one of González’s favourite cities and the artsy, hip Michelberger Hotel has become a place of solace while on tour. This time, however, he had business to take care of—filming a version of Local Valley’s quasi-title track ‘Valle Local’ for the Jim Beam Welcome Sessions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkoyuHdsF3Y&t=4s&ab_channel=JimBeam
To celebrate the launch of González’s Welcome Session, we take a look at five characteristics that contribute to González’s unique artistry.
He’s more than just a Nick Drake knock-off
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González copped a lot of Nick Drake comparisons early in his career. It’s a huge compliment and he’s clearly au fait with the British folk-rock surge of the 1960s and early-‘70s. But critics’ continued reliance on the comparisons to Drake fail to account for the full breadth of González’s artistry.
Like Drake, González is a uniquely talented acoustic guitar player with a fondness for nylon-stringed classical guitars. He tends to finger-pick his way through chord progressions, often leaning on a dominant drone note in a manner akin to krautrock or electronic music. He also sings in a sweet baritone and sounds most at home towards the higher end of the register.
But González has demonstrated a penchant for West African rhythms and bossa nova guitar patterns since the early days of his solo career. It’d also be a major misapprehension to think of González as someone who trades in nostalgia. He might have an aesthetic inclination towards rootsy intimacy, but his lyrics frequently touch on contemporary existentialism and the destructive forces of politics and Big Religion.
He has a feel for atmosphere and texture
González was routinely lumped him in with the quiet-is-the-new-loud crowd early in his career. This wasn’t a defined movement as such, but a folk sub-category that could broadly be said to include figures such as Elliott Smith, Iron & Wine and Sun Kil Moon.
It’s true that while González has frequently toured with a small (and sometimes large) backing ensemble, his recordings feature a bare minimum of instrumental layering. He has the vocal agility to hit a high note whenever he pleases, but there’s rarely any straining in his vocal delivery, let alone aggression. Plus, to many listeners he’ll forever be known as the polite Swedish singer who transformed The Knife’s electropop banger ‘Heartbeats’ into a wistful acoustic number.
But despite such minimalist touches, González’s records aren’t lacking in atmospheric detail. His lead vocals are often double tracked and treated with an enveloping smidge of reverb. He never sounds distant, mind you—rather, the effect simply makes it sound like there are two Gonzálezes singing to you from either end of your sofa.
The great benefit of González’s parsimonious attitude to overdubbing is that it magnifies the nuances of his guitar playing. With nothing superfluous obscuring his finger-work, we’re able to fully absorb what a smart and detail-oriented player he is, as imaginative as he is restrained.
He has excellent taste in cover versions
You’ve probably heard González’s stripped-down version of The Knife’s ‘Heartbeats’ and his similarly rendered take on Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’. The former appeared on González’s debut album, Veneer, in 2003, fewer than 12 months after The Knife’s original came out. It went on to feature in a Sony Bravia TV ad and crack the UK top ten.
González recorded ‘Teardrop’ for his second (and finest) album, In Our Nature, in 2007. Like ‘Heartbeats’, it remains a set-piece of his live shows to this day. But González’s excellent taste in cover versions doesn’t end there. During a charity live stream on September 19, 2020, González performed both ‘Heartbeats’ and ‘Teardrop’ as well as Kylie Minogue’s ‘Hand On Your Heart’, Nick Drake’s ‘Cello Song’, Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Kathy’s Song’ and The Beatles’ ‘Blackbird’.
Over the years, González has carved out setlist time to play songs by Joy Division, The Velvet Underground, Al Green, Bronski Beat and slowcore faves, Low. He also recorded a version of Arthur Russell’s ‘This Is How We Walk On the Moon’ for the Red Hot tribute album, Master Mix, in 2014.
What’s most remarkable about González’s catholic taste in covers is that, in the words of Pitchfork’s Ian Cohen, “Whether covering Massive Attack, Bruce Springsteen, or Low, he sounds like José González.”
He sounds just as good fronting a krautrock band
González wasn’t born with an acoustic guitar in hand. He was active in the Gothenburg punk scene as a teenager and before his solo career took off, he was one-third of the kraut-inspired indie rock band, Junip. Junip released their debut EP, Straight Lines, in 2000 and a second, Black Refuge, in 2005.
González put Junip on the backburner after his solo commitments increased, however, and two albums into his solo career, there was good reason to believe he’d extinguished the urge to rock. But Junip returned in 2010, releasing the EP, Rope and Summit, and the album, Fields, in quick succession.
González sounds perfectly at home in the modified surroundings. In fact, Junip’s recordings preserve much of the unfussy economy of his solo work, albeit with added experimental textures brought by keyboardist Tobias Winterkorn and the motorik thrust of drummer Elias Araya.
He can play orchestral pop music too
Junip released their second, self-titled album in 2013, after which González returned to solo work. As part of the lengthy touring cycle behind his 2015 album, Vestiges & Claws, González enlisted the services of The String Theory, a 22-piece orchestra from Berlin. They’d actually first worked together in 2011 before reconnecting for tours of Europe and the US in 2019—the fruits of which can be heard on the album Live In Europe.
The tour setlists comprised a González hits package and much like his work with Junip, the String Theory collab proved González’s songs could be blown up to wide screen proportions without forgoing their essential intimacy.
Though, despite such adaptability, there is something uniquely moving about watching González perform alone, as exemplified by the Welcome Sessions performance of ‘Valle Local’.
Watch José González perform ‘Valle Local’ for Jim Beam Welcome Sessions.
