Review Summary: Locals Only!
Jose already has an impressive body of work and a solid discography behind him. So with “Local Valley” he wastes no showing his signature fingerpicking that is as magnificent as ever and from the beginning takes the spotlight (as usual). Album starts off with the somber opener “El Invento”, which he sings entirely in Spanish. The use of language in this song creates a somewhat haunting atmosphere, its lyrics may even be some statement or important message, but because I cant speak a word of this language it is lost on me, but that doesn’t make the song lose any impact. Because it feels important and makes on listen intently.
Make no mistake. This album may not be a game changer or Gonzales reinventing the wheel, but Jose does have a few tricks up his sleeve on his fourth LP. Both borrowing from the genres past and making room for experimentation, showing that there is clearly still a bright future for folk.
The first half of the album may just be labeled as “another man with his guitar doing the usual shtick”. Although this might be true in some regard, it is not always a weakness for an artist to stick with his guns. And “Visions” might be one of the best examples of this; Here Jose is revisiting the heights of his career, making a new song that could rival his former songwriter victories such as “Crosses” from his debut “Veneer”.
Listening closely and you will hear the sounds of a forest rich with wildlife, and somehow the album artwork and every visual used make sense. What first struck to me was how the artwork looked akin to the visual style of artists like Cat Stevens and other greats in the 70s in their prime. I would also say that with this album Jose Gonzales is like an introverted, modern age hipster incarnation of Stevens, but now I’m just babbling on. Listening to this album made me think of many classic folk artists, and although I didn’t want to compare Jose to anyone or namedrop any other artists, that’s exactly what I ended up doing.
“The Void” is like a throwback to the 1960s British folk revival scene, and makes me immediately think of Bert Janch, which even Jose`s style of playing is eerily reminiscent of at times. “Horizons” with its cautious plucking and “trying to keep it down to not disturb other people in the house” kind of vibes made me think of the introspective playing of Nick Drake. While, “Head On”, on the other hand plays out in the more explosive extroverted style, not far from something that John Martyn could have done in his prime, and the first half of the album comes to a foot-stamping close with the second Spanish sung song “Valle Local”.
The second half kicks off with “Lasso In”, which is keeping it mostly acoustic, but here he begins to experiment with some background sounds to keep the beat and changing things up a little bit. He takes this a little step further on “Lilla G”, where he unleashes his inner Arthur Russell and lets his voice soar above the instrumentation. This song is sung in Swedish with great effect, where a phrase is repeated over and over like a chant.
He continues exploring this Arthur-esque sound on “Swing” where he sounds completely carefree and that he might have had fun recording this just shines through. This seems like a homage to Paul Simon`s Graceland, with its close likeness to rhythmic African street music. On “Tjomme”, his second Swedish sung song on this album he incorporates each style explored on the album so far mixed into one excellent jam, where he sings about someone who doesn’t dare to think for themselves and only listens to another man (Tjomme). I have a feeling he is making a statement with this song, maybe something to do with his firm belief in altruism, but I might be wrong about that.
After the instrumentation building itself up and reaching its climax in “Tjomme”, Jose dares to let things go back to the quiet with the excellent track “Line of Fire”, which I am sure no one here is a stranger to. To be honest I was a bit skeptical when I saw this on the track list, but it works very well in the context of the album, at least sonically. Lyrically I’m just scratching my head and have made the conclusion that this might not be a cohesive work in that regard, but just a good collection of well-written songs as in the old folk song writer tradition.
Now we are close to the end, and the second last song here is: “En Stund på Jorden”, which is also sung in Swedish. And my god I did not expect this song to be such a standout. It is without doubt the heart of the album and its emotional core. I’m tempted to directly translate these lyrics to English, but it would not do them any justice. Just like translating poetry is like taking a shower with a raincoat. His voice, playing and the whole mood is just pitch perfect to me.
The closer on “Local Valley” is “Honey Honey”, and we again hear the sounds of the forest like it is bidding us farewell. I, on the other hand reply with a see you soon, because this is a more eclectic album than what it may first seem. Its nature lies in its name. This is a journey through a valley, with no epic highs or devastating lows, but this landscape has many stones for us to turn and much to uncover. If you are a fan of folk music I highly encourage you to give this album a listen.
Rating: 3.7/5
