I loathe covers. With the exception of maybe topless males doing Creed on YouTube only Swedish acoustica heartthrob José González can make me want to re-listen to a great song. With the gentle caress of his soft placid voice and guitar he’s made classic songs by The Knife Kylie Minogue Massive Attack Bronski Beat and Joy Division (almost) as good as the originals. Along the way he’s even written some gems of his own.
Vestiges & Claws is not the covers album I’ve always wanted José to record. After hearing him admit to the Telegraph that he grew up with “all the Misfits albums” a José Misfits album would have been great but I shouldn’t disparage his own work because he is a talented singer-songwriter who doesn’t sing-songwrite enough.
His first album since 2007’s In Our Nature (though in that span he has made two albums with his band Junip) Vestiges & Claws is more of José’s softly sung ballads strummed on a classical guitar. He accomplished his goals of making something that’s not “too in-your-face” as well as expanding it beyond the usual minimalist arrangements. That simply means adding pretty much anything else: like a booming rhythm track on “Leaf Off / The Cave” or the moderate percussion ramming “Afterglow.”
Okay so Vestiges & Claws doesn’t exactly offer much in the way of change for José González. But after eight years of waiting why would any fan want more than 10 songs that remind you why you were a fan in the first place?
