Jose Gonzalez – Vestiges & Claws (ALBUM REVIEW)

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It has been seven years since Swedish songwriter Jose Gonzalez’s last solo album, though he has been far from idle in the meantime. Recording two albums with Junip – his duo with Tobias Winterkorn – and touring with both acts, Gonzalez has continued to hone his craft.

 Vestiges & Claws, Gonzalez’s third solo album, is a meditative collection of folk that explores themes of loss and desolation with intricate, gentle brush strokes. It is murky folk stripped away to the bare essentials, with most songs comprised of a single acoustic guitar, sparse percussion, and Gonzalez’s soft, muttered vocals. Because the album is so light, in the rare moments when Gonzalez raises his voice or strums heavier, such as at the climax of “What Will,” it has the impact of a loud, crashing rock chorus.

Gonzalez eases us into the album with the slow, rustic fingerpicking of “With the Ink of a Ghost.” The gentle, stripped melody provides ample space for Gonzalez to plunge the depths of his psyche. “All this time witness to the changing tides. All the while finding ways to make sense of all the lies,” he sings.

“Afterglow,” with its solemn hand-clapped percussion, has an aura of quiet abandonment. As Gonzalez sings, “All of this will be gone someday,” it feels as though the track will be the only remaining artifact found beneath the settled dust of a long-deserted settlement. Tones of desolation fit with the African-inspired percussion, giving the record a worldly and weary feel. “Take this seed/take this spade/take this dream of a better day,” Gonzalez sings in “Every Age.”

Vestiges & Claws is a highly introspective album, with Gonzalez exploring ideas and themes that are at times paradoxical in nature. “Stories We Build, Stories We Tell” finds Gonzalez contemplating the at-times selfish side of empathy. “Oh, they’ll get to you,” he sings. “Wondering what’s on your mind; wondering what’s wrong with you.”

The first self-produced album of Gonzalez’s career, Gonzalez allows himself more freedom to tell stories within the margins of the songs. He also tackles topics from a longer view, speaking on human consciousness as often as his own personal demons. The result is an indie folk album of subtle brilliance, dark but optimistic, sparse but layered, soft but powerful.