Sweden's classical-guitar-plucking, softly sung folky Jose Gonzalez returns to Cork for another solo show following his sell-out success at the Opera House last year, and a previous guest-spot with UK duo Zero 7 at the Savoy Theatre.

Gonzalez, who came to international audiences attention on the back of 250,000 colourful bouncing balls and a cover of a Knife tune ('Heartbeats') in that Sony commercial, released his second album, In Our Nature, in September of last year, to high expectations after the surprise success of his 2005 album Veneer, which catapulted the shy Swede into the limelight.

Gonzalez mesmerised the Cork audience last time out (as part of the Beamish Experience Festival) with a set comprising of newer cuts from his then upcoming album along with the hit's from Veneer. And then of course there was the covers, for which Gonzalez has become famous for – taking on all kinds of material, from Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' to Massive Attacks 'Teardrop' and Kylie Minogue's 'Hand On Your Heart', Jose, with just his vocal chords and six nylon strings, proved he has a sound that is nearly all his own despite the relative simplicity of it all.

However, the fact that most of 'his' most recognizable and lauded material wasn't in fact his own, meant their was still some scepticism surrounding his talent. With his most recent album however, Gonzalez proved his worth as a song-writer and even stepped away from his usual adornment-free sound, adding subtle flourishes without ever sacrificing the bare and beautiful melodies that won him his audience in the first place. He plays the Savoy Theatre on Monday, August 4.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment