Review: Jos? Gonz?lez “Veneer” CD

His Argentinean name may not insinuate such, but this musician was born and raised in Sweden, his generally softly delivered songwriting often drawing comparisons to Nick Drake and Elliott Smith and such. I'm generally not too into this kind of stuff, but when it's done right it can definitely hit me, and this dude's material definitely catches my ear. There are definitely no bells and whistles here. Basically all of the music is generated by one acoustic guitar, and the vast majority of the vocals are delivered in a single layer of Gonz?lez's smooth croon, a faint bit of (probably natural) reverb adding a little distance to the singing. On rare occasion there are some subtle additions - distant handclaps in "Lovestain", an excellent use of creative percussion via tapping on the acoustic guitar in "All You Deliver" (and more subtly so in "Stay in the Shade"), or even some trumpet (the only inclusion herein not handled by Gonz?lez himself) in "Broken Arrows" - but don't expect much of anything else sans the occasional faint vocal harmony or added guitar texture. "Crosses" is simply an amazing song, a little darker in atmosphere while louder and more emphatically emotional than the others - a truly amazing standout. And "Heartbeats" is a cover song by some band called The Knife, who I believe is some sort of contemporary synth pop band in Sweden, making this an odd choice, but one that sounds fine against the other songs herein when transformed into the Jos? Gonz?lez style. Recording-wise of course this sounds fine. It's quit a simple and stripped down record, and I would assume that some of the slight inconsistencies in volume or tone are either intentional or have to do with the circumstances of the recording, in which case they would make sense since they're of no bother to the listening experience. The layout keeps it elegantly minimal with simple line drawings printed in black and brown-ish on matte paper, with the lyrics all crammed together in one continuous stream across two panels. Most of the content is brief and fairly open, hitting on some bleak lines that I quite enjoy, especially in relation to the emotional music: "Poke the body with a stick roll it down ignore the moaning as it tumbles to the ground, Be brave and save your day, These days are cold, Numbers rule I've been told, The pattern is clear better fit in the mould, Be brave and save your day, To cough up sympathy isn't hard but it costs, Hold tight your life savings, You have to do what you must, To save your day, So poke the body and roll it down, The grave looks cold but we're still young." I like this. Not the kind of music I would regularly visit, but this guy's a very self-sufficient and talented musician, making for a nice little set of songs that's great for the right mood.