02.16.09

Song of the Week #8: José González – Time to Send Someone Away

Posted in Music, Song of the Week tagged acoustic, guitar, Jose Gonzalez, singer-songwriter, Swedish at 7:22 pm by Matt

Some beautiful music from Sweden for a change. Unless you knew where he is from, you wouldn’t guess that José Gonzáles – of Argentine descent with a Spanish name – is from Scandinavia, but as far as I know, that’s where he has lived all his live. And to me, his music sounds like coming from a warm place far away.

His first album Veneer (2003) was already quite popular in countries around the world. Time to Send Someone Away is a song from his second album, In Our Nature, released in 2007. In the video below, José is performing the song at a radio station KUT in Austin, Texas.

The video contains nice close-ups of his guitar technique. He’s always using his nylon string guitar (aka Spanish guitar or classical guitar), which gives a softer tone compared to metal string guitar, which is most commonly used by singer-songwriters. Also notice how strong his right hand nails are. It’s a common way to play to pick with your fingernails especially with the classical guitar.

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