VESTIGES & CLAWS

It's the quiet ones we should watch, they always say. Which is particularly astute advice right now, when loud, constant self- declaration and saturated "brand" visibility have become the norm. But above the babble and brightness, some voices will always speak quiet volumes - with calm eloquence and the kind of certitude that comes from valuing the playing out, not just the prize. Sweden's Jose' Gonza'lez is just such a voice. He first charmed his way into the UK's earshot via the murmurous and elegant, classically finger-picked folk pop of his 2005 album, Veneer, which has since sold over a staggering 430, 000 copies in UK alone. Two years later came In Our Nature, a further exploration of Jose's influences (Argentinian Folklore, the '60s US folk tradition and the British pastoral folk-pop style of the same era), on which he resisted the temptation to beef up his alluringly introvert aesthetic. The albums made the UK Top 10 and Top 20 respectively.