José González talks touring, In Our Nature

Five continents and four years later, Swedish-born José González is hanging up his touring hat until In Our Nature, the follow-up to his 2005 debut Veneer, is released on September 25.

The guitarist, whose bare, sentimental sound is oft-compared to Elliott Smith and Nick Drake, was thrown into the European spotlight after his cover of The Knife’s “Heartbeats” was used in a Sony BRAVIA TV line commercial. The retinal party of an ad featured every kid’s dream: a parade of 250,000 bouncy balls set loose in the streets of San Francisco. Since then, Veneer has sold over 700,000 copies, and was crowned with platinum awards in the UK and Ireland.

González, who calls Gothenburg, Sweden home, is heading back to record some b-sides and shoot a couple of videos. But first, he spoke with Paste about his penchant for cover songs (from Kylie Minogue to Joy Division), the new album, and why bioscience has recently piqued his interest.

Paste: You’ve been touring for the past four years. When exactly did you have time to write your new album?

José González: I hoped to do it on tour, but it didn’t really work. So last year in November I just went home and decided not to do any shows until I had the album ready. So I ended up just doing trips that felt like fun. We went to South Africa. We went to Singapore and Japan. I had some songs from touring but most of the songs got together when I was home.

Paste: Why do you end your sets with cover songs?

JG: At first when I was doing my first shows in Sweden, I didn’t have that many songs so I needed to fill up the set with more music. Since then it’s been especially from playing for a crowd that doesn’t know my music. It’s a nice way of connecting with people. The main reason is because you can stop with songs that are already good so you don’t need to do that much.

Paste: Is there any particular reason why you cover Massive Attack on the new album?

JG: Not really. Not more than I like it very much. I like the melody of her singing, and I think it’s been kind of a live favorite. At first I didn’t think of recording it. It had similar, very vague and general lyrics. So I thought it fit well with the rest of the album.

Paste: You’re sticking to a similar sound. You have simple recording processes, and your packaging isn’t flashy. And your album’s going to be released in 35 countries. Why do you think this sort of simplicity translates so well into so many cultures?

JG: I don’t know, exactly. [In] many of the countries, guitar and vocals are very basic and very universal. At least for Europe and America. It’s something that people are familiar with. I don’t know. It’s a bit of a mixture, I think. Also, just the fact that if one culture likes it, it’s not that strange if another culture likes it too.

Paste: You studied biochemistry and you recently read The God Delusion (by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins). Are there any biology themes on this upcoming album?

JG: Not biology in that sense. It’s only comments. Many of the songs have a similar theme of this sense of being angry about something. Angry about the human race and the stupidity about us.

Paste: What kind of stupidity?

JG: In general, I picture myself if I was an alien looking at Earth and seeing what we’re doing to each other as a population and how much suffering there is and how much fighting there is. It’s probably laughable in a dark kind of way.

Paste: Tell me a little about some of the symbolism in your lyrics. Is there anything that’s very prominent that you are trying to get across to your audience?

JG: No…I mentioned The God Delusion in the biography [on my website] is because it’s one of two books that I’ve read. I haven’t read more than two books in more than a year. The other book is Practical Ethics Peter Singer. It’s not like a message. I just needed to get it off my chest in a way. I’m talking about the stupidity and the way cultures are treating each other is very unhealthy.

Paste: The BRAVIA commercial propelled your career. Are you surprised at how large an audience you have now?

JG: Yeah, definitely. But also I’ve seen other bands having a song in a commercial and there’s a whole bunch of Levi bands. Levi jeans. So it surprised me, but not totally.

Paste: Bands like Wilco and Of Montreal are catching come negative attention for selling their music to VW and Outback Steakhouse commercials, respectively. You seem to maintain your fanbase, though. Thoughts?

JG: I’m not sure of any artist that actually thinks it’s the best way to promote your music. It’s just a convenient way if they’re offering a lot of money or a lot of promotion. I think for a lot of artists it’s a mix between a necessary evil and just convenience. For a band that spends a lot of time on tour and is not earning that much money on record sales... I wouldn’t be too aggressive towards people that try to make a living from what they find fun in life. It’s important to make sure you’re not doing it... Did you say "steakhouse"? That’s a criteria I would never do. And Volkswagen is making cars, and I don’t think I would do that either, unless they would put out a car that’s super good for the environment, which I don’t think is the case. I wouldn’t sell my soul to the devil completely.

Paste: Do you ever think about deviating from your sound in the future, making it more full?

JG: Yeah, definitely. Not if it’s solo. Not under my own name. I don’t think I’d do it. I’ve already done some things with Junip. I would love to try new instruments and just have fun. But my solo thing—it’s kinda nice to be straight and know I’m going to do it with one guitar and nothing more.

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