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Acoustic, alternative folk, indie pop, singer-songwriter, Sweden.

José González has delivered a new album, Against the Dying of the Light, a companion and further meditation on the themes of his critically acclaimed album, Local Valley. Where Local Valley turned inward toward place, language, and personal reflection, this new record widens its gaze, becoming an urgent call to preserve the light of humanity with all its flaws, at a moment when, technology increasingly shapes how we think, feel, and relate to one another.

While José has always embraced technological advancement, he questions the assumption that every new possibility must be pursued to its maximum potential, especially when progress comes at the expense of human flourishing, attention, and empathy.

For those of you unfamiliar with José González, let me introduce you. You’re in a room, and there’s a man there with a guitar and a voice. José González is a trilingual guitarist who specializes in gentleness. His strums and finger-plucks lull and hypnotize beneath the wash of his sometimes-English, sometimes-Spanish, and sometimes-Swedish wordplay. 

His newest album, Against the Dying of the Light is a continuation of his signature style with a touch of desert blues, drawing inspiration from Saharan African groups like Tinariwen. His music could be played while journaling as the sun goes down, or when sharing candles, wine, and laughter at the dinner table. However, a closer look at the lyrics and poetry takes a critical look at the human relationship with nature and technology. 

The album opens up with “A Perfect Storm,” which has meditative chanting and brings you in with the familiar sounds you’ve come to expect from José. González sprinkles his three languages over the album with lots of beautiful “Ooos and Ahhs”. These foreign languages have that quality of washing over you to remind us that words are only sounds.

And while the feel of the music is relaxing, if you are a lyric-junkie and want to dive into the poetry of it all, González offers up a dish of growing concern for the state of humanity. “Etyd” gets into themes of a fool’s hope and how ignorance can turn us into naive children. “For Every Dusk” digs into the rotten core of apathy. And “Sheet” reminds us to let go, not know, and grow up.

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. My favorite song on the album is called “You and We.” When listening through the album several times, this one always perked up in my eardrums. And the lyric “I wish you well” felt good in my heart. What a lovely thought to share with someone you know. 

Many of the tracks have a clear feeling of human hands: the sound of fingers sliding up and down the neck of the guitar. The imperfect plucks and pats make the music sound better, more real, more lived in. You can hear his breath, the sound of his heels keeping rhythm with the floor. It is all so unequivocally human. 

The final song on the track “Joy (Can’t Help But Sing)” leaves us with a feeling of hope. González posits that when we are enraptured with the beauty of life, “the fruit begin to sing” and we can’t help but sing along too

Tracks:
01 - A Perfect Storm
02 - Etyd
03 - Against The Dying Of The Light
04 - For Every Dusk
05 - Sheet
06 - Pajarito
07 - Losing Game (Sick)
08 - Ay Querida
09 - U / Rawls Slöja
10 - Gymnasten
11 - Just A Rock
12 - You & We
13 - Joy (Can't Help But Sing)

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9krPYK6JWM