Jose Gonzalez Returns
Jose Gonzalez quietly released a new EP last month, Jose Gonzalez & The Brite Lites at Svenska Grammofonstudion (Imperial Recordings). The Brite Lites is the name of his new touring band, and they recorded the EP in Gonzalez’s home country of Sweden.
If you’ve not heard his name before, you may have heard Gonzalez’s breakout hit, 2003’s “Heartbeats,” a cover of fellow Swedish musicians The Knife’s song of the same name. That cover is a sharp contrast to the original, with Gonzalez’s acoustic guitar turning their electronic mix into a swoon-worthy love song. (It was used in multiple TV shows in the mid-2000s. Listen to the two songs at the bottom of this article—you’ll enjoy both.) If you like Damien Rice or Alexi Murdoch, you will also like Gonzalez’s guitar-and-voice combination.
Gonzalez’s career has not been prolific, but his work is consistent, and this new EP is no exception. In fact, the music is brighter—if you’ll excuse the pun—than previous works and better for it. The EP is only four songs but plays almost as one song with four movements, with each song smoothly leading into the next both musically and lyrically. mxdwn.com has a good interview with Gonzalez about the striking cover artwork and songs. I was surprised to learn the first track was actually written in 2007.
Whether you listen to them as singles or a comprehensive work, Jose Gonzalez & The Brite Lites at Svenska Grammofonstudion is a great listen for a winter night dreaming of spring.
EP artwork drawn by Hannele Fernström.
