Veneer

Today's Music That Is Very Good is Veneer, by Jose Gonzalez. This is something I picked up at the library simply because I was not familiar with it. Also, the simple design of the album cover drew me in a little bit as well. Now, I don't know that much about Jose Gonzalez, except that he is European (not Spanish, though) and is apparently a star overseas. I don't believe that he is a huge celebrity to Germans in the sense that David Hasselhoff is, though.

Veneer has to draw obvious comparisons to some early Iron & Wine albums, as it's mostly just a man and a guitar. (Sometimes two guitars, maybe? I doubt it, I think Gonzalez is just a very good guitar player.) You'd think one guitar couldn't fill a soundscape the way it does here, though. The instrument really bounds and leaps, sometimes content to defer to Gonzalez's voice, sometimes competing with him, but it's never irrelevant. The sound is very bouncy but has more teeth than what you'd expect from a folk singer, and even his chords sound complicated. The guitar is only hard to listen to because I'm something of a novice guitar player, and hearing Gonzalez play is like watching a person smaller than me lift a car overhead. I would like to tell you that I want to be as talented a guitarist as Gonzalez is, but I would settle for being able to run or speak or cook half as well as he plays guitar.

The man has a pretty good voice, too. It's mellow without being bland, the kind of voice that comes through the speakers like a fall breeze comes in through a screen door, and it really compliments the guitar playing well. Maybe too well. If I was going to fault this album for anything, it would be that the vocals don't seem to match the intensity of the guitar, and that sometimes I'd like a little bit of yelling or at least some more emotion. This is a minor criticism, as the vocals aren't anything that detracts from the album and certainly aren't bad by any stretch, just that I'd like more from them sometimes.

I would probably recommend this album to most people, though. It's interesting without really being offensive or trendy. You'll probably never meet anyone with a Jose Gonzalez ringtone, but that's just fine. This album has a respectable, aged quality to it that doesn't come from trying to please anyone, just from being very proficient. (Note: this is Gonzalez's first album, and a few years old, so I'm very curious to get my hands on some of this other works.)

In Other News:
I'M GOING TO SEE NEKO CASE TONIGHT OMG