There's a timeless quality in folk music that is substantiated through its minimalism. While some may feel that this section of the musical spectrum is inherently American, its reach extends across the Atlantic and has been appropriated by musicians of all stripes and nationalities. The minimal yet timeless quality of Swedish folk darling José González is what allows him to continue his canon with another release--one seven years in the making.
Vestiges & Claws, a remarkable but unsurprising endeavor by González builds on the singer-songwriter idea. Evolving from a one-man guitar ensemble to an actual mini-orchestra, the Argentinian-born musician fills out the spaces with new instruments, from finger snaps to wood blocks to worldly tools like a squash. González is trying to bring about a new face to his sound, though, albeit, still remaining a little too safe at times.
There's no arguing, González is still in his comfort zone but he's making that zone as large as possible, breathing a different life into his songs while staying true to himself (enter lyrics). From "Let It Carry You," one can still hear the resonate delicacy of Jose's voice as he sings masterful and poignant lyrics:
"And dissolve into the foam / Of things near, of things gone / To remind our restless souls / Of the beauty of being here at all."
Having already started a world tour, and with some dates featuring Classicalite favorite yMusic, Mr. González will pass through New York City's Beacon Theater on Thursday, March 24. We were lucky enough to get Jose on the phone to talk a little bit about the new album and what it's like having a New York-based modern ensemble backing him while on the road here in North America.
CLASSCALITE: Jose, amazing to have you here. Welcome. This is the first album that you have put out under "José González" in, I think, 7 seven years. The last stuff you did was under another moniker called Junip, right?
José González: Yeah, it's a band of 5 people but yes, exactly, and about seven years, too, yes.
CL: So the new stuff, Vestiges and Claws, has more instrumentation on it than your earlier music. You're especially well-known for being more of a singer songwriter type, where it's you and your acoustics. So how do you think this new music translates with this orchestration behind it?
JG: I started out trying to keep the similar style of the first two, just focusing on one guitar but it was slightly more than usual, adding more guitar and some percussion by hitting on the guitar body and I still kept it similar in the way I produced it. I was sitting down on my own producing the simple things around me, but it was fun to try a different sound, partly with the percussion and partly with the style of rifts that I was using.
CL: Are you excited to have yMusic as your backing band?
JG: Yeah, definitely! We did one show together in New York, one and a half year ago.
CL: Where in New York?
JG: Lincoln Center. It was outdoors so we've already sort of tried our thing together. They did arrangements for ten of my songs and they were really good. I think now we are a bit more prepared and I'm really looking forward to it.
IH: So I guess you're going to come to the Beacon Theatre here in New York. Have you ever been?
JG: No, I don't know that much about it.
IH: Well, a massive theater that will be very conducive to that style of playing. I actually saw there, who is also a Swedish musician, The Tallest Man on Earth, and he did a very similar thing that you did on your latest album. I don't know if you guys know each other since you're both from the same area.
JG: Yeah, we've met each other on festivals and I think we did a show together in France. He's great and I think he's done some stuff with yMusic, too.
CL: I know he has Mike Noyce from Bon Iver, and I know yMusic did some stuff with Bon Iver and I know your music is kind of associated with Bon Iver. It's a whole communal kind of thing.
JG: Yeah, I guess so for yMusic. They're such a good ensemble being six people and being able to have both strings, horns and woodwinds makes it very easy to blend with acoustic driven indie music. They're the perfect go-to ensemble for us musicians. At the same time they're few in number so it's easy to tour with them compared to the 20-piece orchestra I toured with in Europe, which was a bigger project.
CL: Do you have a preference between those two kinds of orchestral set ups?
JG: Yeah, I think the character of each instrument is nice when it's fewer in people but I also thought it was really different the orchestra I toured with in Europe, which was more of an alternative orchestra with some homemade noise instruments combined with your traditional strings. I think there was 10 strings and the rest was mixed, both classical stuff and some avant-garde. But compared to yMusic they have only six people so you can really hear the character of each instrument and it gives it a bit more of a mellow style. Maybe that's because of the variation.
CL: Do you think it gives it more of an indie sound, too?
JG: Well, I like both and indie-wise I think you can sort of push bigger orchestras too in sorts. I don't think it's so much the size but how you and the arrangements are. I think in the case of yMusic, they've been around so many different artists they have their own style and sound.
CL: So then would you guys work together? I mean, would you guys ever go into the studio with one another after this?
JG: We did two songs with basically me recording here and sending over the material, I think it was, "Open Book" and "With the Ink of a Ghost" and they recorded over it. I'm pretty sure we'll try to figure out a way to record the whole thing that we're doing together sort of after the tour but no, there are no plans yet to continue. I'm still rehearsing my songs with their songs.
CL: So then do you think you'll have a long waiting period in between this album and say something next that you'll put out like you did this time around?
JG: Yeah. The thing is, I've been releasing albums about every third year and this one actually came out earlier than usual. Usually it takes many months in a row to get together an album and produce it so it's going to take a while. [He laughs] But no, not seven years. I think a better guess is two and a half.
CL: Your songwriting is a longer process than most. All these songs kind of have movements to them instead of a regular song structure, which is why I guess they work in a symphonic setting, like with yMusic or other orchestrations, so that makes a lot of sense.
JG; Yeah, it's fun I guess. I have this style where I like to repeat things but yeah, the songwriting takes time but it's mostly because I'm bad at multi-tasking so usually I write, record, produce, release, promote, tour and then have a short break and then it's back again. And then all of a sudden it's been three years.
CL: Absolutely. I also wanted to ask: has anyone ever compared you to Rob Pecknold or Alexi Murdoch?
JG: I think I saw the name Alexi Murdoch when I was, for some reason, looking at similar artists on Spotify. I recognized most of them, like Bon Iver was one of them. But Alexi Murdoch I haven't heard so much. I'll have to check him out.
CL: He's great. You guys are similar. Obviously not too similar. There's many things about you that are dissimilar but yeah he's good.
JG: I don't know why we were looking at similar artists. Maybe because we were setting up one or two shows in Sweden, sort of co-headline type of shows, and we were curious.
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