Song:Slow Moves
Album:Veneer
Don't let his name fool you. Singer songwriter Jose Gonzalez is from Sweden. He has had success in England and you may have heard his music on TV. He is very similar to Elliott Smith or Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters. Currently Gonzalez is a member of Junip and is not active as a solo artist. His parents moved from Argentina to Sweden after the 1976 Dirty War. His father is a psychology professor. Gonzalez was born in Gothenberg, Sweden in 1978. He grew up listening to Latin music and his favourite artist is Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez. As a teen, he played in punk bands like Back Against The Wall, Renascence and Only If You Call Me Jonathan. While studying biochemistry at the University of Gothenberg, he started playing clubs as a solo act and released a single in 2003. This got him a deal with the Swedish label Imperial Records. His 2003 debut CD Veneer got enough attention that Gonzalez signed with the British label Mute Records for wider distribution. The album did very well in England and Sweden. The album is just Gonzalez and his guitar. And as I said, his sound is very similar to Elliott Smith or Mark Kozelek. He had a top ten single in England with his 2006 cover of The Knife song Heartbeats. In the US, his songs have appeared on TV shows like The O.C. and Friday Night Lights. Gonzalez recorded a second CD In Our Nature in 2007. In 2005, he formed Junip with drummer Elias Araya and keyboard player Tobias Winterkorn. For a few years Gonzalez was performing solo and as part of Junip. But on his website, Gonzalez says he is not a solo artist right now. Junip released a new CD Junip last month. They are currently on tour. It seems like he prefers being in a band. Either way, Jose Gonzalez is recommended to folk music fans. Here's Jose Gonzalez performing Slow Moves at radio station KCRW in Los Angeles.
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