José González (Sweden) – Against the Dying of the Light (single/future album track) + video

We occasionally stray from our mantra of giving max headroom to new and breaking artists and bands by featuring a well established one, and such is the case with the Gothenburg based Swedish-Argentinean José González, who recently released the single ‘Against the Dying of the Light’, the title track from his fifth album (and first in four years), which will be available on 27^th March and which may, or may not have taken inspiration from Dylan Thomas.

You don’t get to be much bigger in the serious singer-songwriter category than José who has more followers on social media than there are MAGA voters, has sold a million records and garnered a billion streams. “I play guitar and sing” is his ultra modest handle on there.

He’s been doing that since his debut album ‘Veneer’ in 2003. And there is indisputably a veneer of class to be found in his distinctive calming vocals by which he delivers his indie folk renditions, often accompanied by classical guitar.

His last album was called ‘Local Valley’, which was one of inward personal reflection. That made me think immediately of the iconic 1990s British TV dark comedy series The League of Gentlemen and its “local shop for local people”, an analysis of changing mores 20 years before the Covid pandemic and how it dramatically altered lifestyles.

‘Against the Dying of the Light’ comprises further meditation on the same themes but widens its gaze, becoming an urgent call to preserve the light of humanity with all its flaws, at a moment when technology increasingly shapes how we think, feel, and relate to one another.

Hence it concerns putting what he hints at as a poorly managed recent past behind us and stepping up to the plate to face the consequences, such as an out of control AI love affair that might see us all redundant and useless before we’ve been able to figure out what else to do with our time.

And the Devil will, of course find work for idle hands to do.

“We can rebel against these replicators” he says, “… rebel against the extinction of the light,” sounding like a latter day evangelist Billy Graham in full flow.

I’ve been looking for protest songs, even posting ‘adverts’ for them on social media and now I’ve got two in the same week with more on the way. The Nordic nests are stirring. Not quite the ones I expected mind, I was on the lookout for anti-Trump songs over Greenland. But it’s better than nothing. Much better.

Musically it’s a slow burner, gaining in intensity only in the final moments.

Stylistically, the single’s lyrics, delivered over less than two minutes and 40 seconds, read like Desiderata 2.0. A set of instructions for a life of contentment and zen, presented as low key and lo-fi as you could imagine –

“Accept who you have become/Relax your judging mind/Embrace who we could be/Disconnect from every algorithm/Let’s rebel against the replicators”.

And then in those final moments he bursts into action to deliver the final, unexpected line, “Celebrate the fucking fact that we’re alive.”

Its part way between the diametrically opposite soporific soothing of Holly Herndon’s ‘Lonely at the Top’ and the climax to Nightwish’s ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ (“We were here”) but that line is delivered almost with an air of resignation. As if the cause is lost already.

For the rest of this year, José González will tour the US and Europe, starting on April 13th with a US tour (assuming Scandinavians aren’t barred by then) followed by shows in Europe and Sweden in the summer and autumn. Tour dates will be announced on a rolling basis at www.jose-gonzalez.com.

Oh, and here’s a thing. In addition to his music, González has recently joined the 10% Pledge, a public commitment to that portion of his income to effective charities that fight extreme poverty, via Giving What We Can – www.givewithjose.com.