Jose Gonzalez

This Swedish-born songwriter of Argentinean descent has long constructed mesmerizing songs out of little more than a double-tracked whisper and skeletal picking of a nylon-string guitar. His debut, Veneer, gained an international audience and earned comparisons to Nick Drake and Joao Gilberto. On In Our Nature, Gonzalez returns with the same uncomplicated pose -- hunched over a classical guitar, singing hushed, aching melodies -- but beneath the straightforward presentation, his themes take on the warring world at large in haunting protests like "Killing For Love."

Armed with little more than an acoustic guitar, an ultrasensitive soul and a spate of low-key
tunes, Sweden's Jose Gonzalez managed to build an international cult following with his
2005 debut, Veneer. Gonzalez hasn't done much to snazz up his sound for his second
album, In Our Nature, another mellow folk record that, at its best, sidesteps coffee-shop
commonplaces. Gonzalez is still too low-effect for his own good, and it's hard to... More >