Vestiges & Claws

Description

Swedish-born José Gonzalez first made his name in the UK with his hushed, elegant folk-pop on his 2005 album, Veneer, which has since sold over 430,000 copies in the UK alone. Two years later came In Our Nature, a deeper exploration of José's influences (Argentine folklore, the American folk tradition of the 60s and the pastoral British folk-pop style of the same era), on which he resisted the temptation to beef up his seductive, introverted aesthetic. The albums respectively reached the UK Top 10 and Top 20. It may have been seven years since he released a solo record, but José has been anything but idle during this period. He delivered two albums with the band Junip, his fuller, more electronic pop project, and toured with the Berlin/Goteborg String Theory orchestra (in 2011), co-performing 11 covers of his songs, and played with Malian desert blues troupe Tinariwen (in 2012). Now José returns to the solo spotlight with Vestiges & Claws. Conceived as the natural third chapter of an acoustic trilogy, Vestiges & Claws is a (another) hushed, delicate solo effort that showcases the intimate vocal style and complex playing technique of the artist and guitarist.