José González Against The Dying Of The Light

first thoughts

José González is a Swedish indie-folk singer – with, naturally, the usual background in hardcore punk influenced by Black Flag and choral singing – Against The Dying Of The Light is his fifth album, and is something of a return as it is the first for four years. It’s a mix of songs mostly sung in either English or Swedish, although Ay Querida is an excursion into Spanish. On all of these the predominant sound being González’s acoustic guitar playing. It’s finger-picked playing that is attractive and inventive, and on Ay Querida more than hints at flamenco. The accompanying lyrics, at least on the English language songs, veer towards the apocalyptic, exemplified by A Perfect Storm which holds out little optimism that impending disasters can be averted by intelligent leadership “no time for the masses to be informed / to have a say / got to win the race / just win the race the race to lose control .”

José González is railing against more than just the finality of death when he borrows from Dylan Thomas on the album’s title track – his concerns include a consideration of the end of humanity’s role on the planet in the face of an unseemly rush to adopt Artificial Intelligence into every aspect of life. Whilst the song sounds relatively upbeat, Against The Dying Of The Light wonders what the future holds as we race headlong to embrace our potential replacement and encourages humanity to hang in and “celebrate the fucking fact that we’re alive.”

The songs sung in Swedish provide the non-Swedish speaker some respite from the horrors of current or near-future destructions, although the long spoken word section of Gymnasten perhaps hints at the sharing of a serious manifesto. Here, though, the focus returns to the guitar playing which hypnotically draws the listener in. Ultimately, though, there is some optimism to be found amongst the gentle polemics of Against The Dying Of The Light: a song like You & We is a subtle call for a more universal togetherness – not the individual relationship of a “you and me”, it’s a more inclusive society that González calls for when he sings “with all of my heart I wish you well.”

Against The Dying Of The Light is a seductive album, pulling the listener with gentle sounds and a light, echoey, vocal but then having done so delivers a deal of persuasive protests. It’s an album that works on both levels – one can just listen to it, or one can really listen – and it’s the latter choice that reveals the album’s real depth.

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