José González Revisits His Breakthrough Album, Veneer

It took some convincing for singer-songwriter José González to come around to the idea of performing one of his past albums in its entirety.

"I saw other artists performing their first album," he tells New Times over the phone. "I was skeptical at first, but it felt natural once I thought about it. I saw Dinosaur Jr. play their first albums, and it gave me goosebumps. Playing on nostalgia and memories can mean a lot to fans."

That epiphany led to Gonzalez's current tour, where he's playing Veneer, his 2003 debut album, front to back. The tour's final show takes place Wednesday, May 1, at the Miami Beach Bandshell.

"I'm alone on stage; just me on guitar with my vocals," González says. "I play the first album and a lot of covers — Joy Division, Massive Attack, Simon & Garfunkel — and some of my new songs, too."

Despite being the album that gave him his breakthrough, for González, delving into the past had its challenges.

"I was a better guitarist back then," he admits. "I was playing a lot of classical guitar. I had to rehearse quite a bit to get the songs right. On stage, I'm more focused and determined to play well. The first shows on the tour were quite nervewracking."

Beyond the technical matters of remembering which chord to strum, revisiting his past songs also brought up spiritual issues. "It was a bittersweet feeling. Some of the songs I hadn't played in 20 years," he explains. "It was therapeutic to go into my history. But there's something about going back in time, remembering."

Those memories begin for González in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he was born to Argentine parents.

"At 14, I started playing guitar and bass. I sat with my parents' records and listened to music nonstop with big headphones," he remembers. "With guitar, I learned the Beatles and bossa nova. I played bass in hardcore bands. I tried to teach myself the hardest classical guitar pieces. But my main focus was studying molecular biology."

That last detail is not his wry Scandinavian humor coming out. In 2001, González was working in a lab trying to figure out how the herpes virus replicates DNA when he put out a couple of seven-inch singles. "They really took off. It inspired a couple of guys in Stockholm to have me put out a first record," he notes.
The popularity of that first record, Veneer, with its quiet, emotional precision reminiscent of bygone folk troubadours like Nick Drake and Tim Buckley, took González by surprise when it came out in 2003.

"It was a switch in my life, going from trying to produce a protein in a cold five-degree Celsius lab to all of a sudden the Swedish version of MTV was playing 'Crosses' in high rotation. It was kind of surreal," González says. "I went from staying at home to touring Sweden in a Volvo, playing 150 shows in 2003 and 2004."

Revisiting those Veneer years has stirred up both good and bad memories for González. "I've been open about how mental illness affected those songs. Those memories came back, but there were also fun memories of those early tours I had forgotten about. It was fun going through old photos and piecing those memories together," he says.

If his life and music sound interesting, González recommends watching the 2023 feature-length documentary, A Tiger in Paradise, of which he was the subject. "It gives my background in music," he adds. "I talk about becoming a dad and writing my fourth album, Local Valley."

A fifth album is on its way, too.

"Having my kids, now 6 and 2 years old, was life-changing. I also write about the pandemic, my parents getting older, and my philosophical outlook on life," he explains.

But before he delves into the recent past, he will first revisit the distant past. Wednesday's show at the Miami Beach Bandshell will be González's first South Florida concert since his appearance at the Manuel Artime Theater in 2008.

"I'm very happy to be back. I feel sorry for cities I haven't played in a while," he says. "Hopefully, I'll give people a nostalgic feeling of being back when people listened to full albums."

José González. 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, at Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; 786-453-2897; miamibeachbandshell.com. Tickets cost $56.65 via dice.fm.