While a talented songwriter in his own right, José Gonzaléz’s bread and butter has been his folksy, campfire covers of chart-topping pop songs. In addition to the first single off his debut album, that finger-picked rendition of The Knife’s “Heartbeats”, which was all but ubiquitous in 2006 and remains arguably his most popular track to date, Gonzaléz has also applied his trademark accousti-fying to a number of popular tracks, including Massive Attack’s “Teardrop”, Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, Kylie Minogue’s “Put Your Hand On Your Heart”, and even Springsteen’s “Ghost of Tom Joad”. You’ve likely heard them all, playing in the background of a television show or schmaltzy commercial over the past decade; for it was a happy day for music supervisors everywhere when José Gonzaléz came to town.
To promote his forthcoming solo album, Vestiges & Claws, Gonzaléz paid a visit to PÃ¥ spÃ¥ret, a popular game show in his native Sweden, and performed a stripped-down, dulcet interpretation of TLC’s R&B mega-hit, “Waterfalls”.
Backed by the band, Augustifamiljen, who provide some mellow horns and lightly soulful keys, Gonzaléz and company deliver an extra-smooth rendition of this already smooth song, where even the most minor of flair has been polished down into complete inoffensiveness. Needless to say, and to our great regret, Gonzaléz does not tackle Left Eye’s rap interlude. However, we will give him a pass.
Gonzalez also performed John Lennon’s “Woman” on the program, but video is not readily available for that one. So here’s a Gonzalez version of Lennon’s “#9 Dream”, from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, instead.
Gonzalez’s forthcoming Vestiges & Claws, his first solo work since 2007’s In Our Nature, which will be released on February 17.
