Understated indie-folkster Jose Gonzales is bringing his minimal style back to New Zealand, writes Rebecca Barry
KEY POINTS:
If there's a style of music you wouldn't associate with Jose Gonzales, it's hardcore.
His songs have a soft, hypnotic quality suitable for a nursery. His delivery has the pared-back timbre of a loner, a humbleness in his delivery spared of melodrama.
Yet he still listens to bands
like Sick of It All and the Bronx, a throwback to his years playing in hardcore bands Back Against the Wall and Renascence.
"I don't really miss it that much. It's nice to have this simple approach."
Since a Sony Bravia ad launched him to the world two years ago (whereby thousands of coloured balls bounced down the streets of San Francisco to his cover of the Knife's Heartbeat), the Swedish-Argentinian indie-folk artist has capitalised on that simple approach. He toured the world, and released two albums, Veneer and last year's In Our Nature, in which he revealed a talent for songs that evince bloodshed, yet still sound hopeful, comforting. When he plays the Bruce Mason Centre on January 8 before heading to Wellington, he'll be joined by his band. And a warning _ his gigs require patience, silence and comfortable seating.
"It's pretty minimal. It's all about having just enough and I guess it's pretty boring to them [the band] because it's about me sitting there playing guitar and they kind of fill up the sound. But I love the fact that it's just back-up vocals, kick-drum and harmonies."
Gonzales is better known for playing solo; his music is perhaps best experienced in solitude.
"I stumbled across many artists [who I] really liked when they were playing alone _ just piano and vocals or guitar and vocals. And as soon as they started adding more it wasn't the same."
He grew up on Latin folk and artists such as Silvio Rodriguez after his Argentinian parents left their home country following the 1976 military dictatorship. They ended up in Sweden where Gonzales was born.
"I've always lived in Sweden, so I've always felt more Swede than anything. It's a bit strange. Although I speak Spanish, I speak it with a Swedish accent."
Instead he sings in his third language, English, for its "poetic" qualities.
Given his music's understated style, it would be easy to feel naked on stage, even with the added comfort of his band, but Gonzales insists that he's "not really a performer".
"I just sit down and play the songs. I'm not really putting on a show. I don't feel comfortable as soon as people expect me to say stuff. But what I've been noticing, especially lately, is that people know what they're getting. They're there to hear the music, not to see fireworks or someone jumping around."
It's also likely he'll play cover songs, among which include Massive Attack's Teardrop, Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart and even Kylie Minogue's Hand On Your Heart.
"I haven't done that many more covers, just because they've gotten so much attention."
As for that Heartbeat cover, Gonzales admits he's not a fan of TV ads but agreed to contribute the soundtrack because it was "tasteful".
Perhaps it wasn't just the creative mood behind it that inspired him, but the product itself. If he wasn't a touring musician, he'd be living up to the other cliche his woolly beard inspires, working as a scientist.
He was halfway through his PhD studies in DNA replication in the herpes virus when he gave it up to pursue a career as a musician. Much of his second album is inspired by the controversial book The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, a British biologist and outspoken critic of religion who draws on arguments supporting evolution to disprove the notion of intelligent design.
"I totally agree with a lot of the claims. I can trust what he's saying. Many of my songs are against creationism and I think he's got a very solid argument against the supernatural."
The move to what is considered a rather spiritual field _ one that relies on emotion and hunch rather than black-and-white facts _ might seem odd, but Gonzales says he's able to tap into a spiritual side through song.
"You can totally lose yourself in music without feeling the necessity to believe in a higher power. I don't think there's any conflict. When I'm playing similar chord progressions over and over again, after 20 minutes I lose part of my self-consciousness. Coming from a scientific background, I would presume it to be something to do with our minds, but I don't see any problem with it not bothering about what part of the brain is active and just experiencing that as something beautiful."
LOWDOWN
Who: Jose Gonzales (with special guests the Haints of Dean Hall)Albums: Veneer (2005), In Our Nature (2007)
Where & when: Nationwide tour, including Bruce Mason Centre, Sunday