"Crosses" was featured on The OC's season finale in May 2005.

"Stay In The Shade" was featured on The OC episode that aired January 26, 2006.

Yes, indeed, that's "Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez as the soundtrack to Sony's fantastic new ad for their Bravia TV line. Featuring 250,000 madly bouncing superballs rainbowing down a San Francisco incline this charming commercial is airing only in the UK, Europe and Australia for now, but also getting loads of notice via the worldwideweb, which is, um, worldwide. We love you viral marketeers! Here's hoping we see it in the U.S. soon!

ALSO AVAILABLE: Stay In The Shade EP - AHA!081 (available now for mailorder)
Hidden Agenda will release a domestic version of the Stay In The Shade EP by Jose Gonzalez in January 2006. It will feature an extended version of "Stay In The Shade", two incredible album-worthy b-sides ("Sensing Owls" and "Down The Hillside"), Jose's acclaimed cover of the Kylie Minogue hit "Hand On Your Heart", and a newly remastered instrumental track ("Instr.") for all you John Fahey fans out there. The EP will be serviced to press, retail and radio, and will lead up to Jose's first ever U.S. tour schedule to coincide with SXSW in March 2006.

U.S. press...

Dusted Magazine:
"Veneer is a funny name for an album that appears to hide so little. If there are secrets, you wonder, where are they kept? Not between the immaculately picked guitar notes, or the call and response of Gonzalez's fragile tenor, or the haunting sparsity of his lyrics. There are simply no conspiratorial spaces, no layers to veil the naked earnest songness of the songs. It's just as well, too; understatement doesn't define the album's beauty, but it does fathom it and suggest there's no room, and no need, for ornament...

Dusted Editor Sam Hunt's Top Albums of 2005:
"An argument for syncretism. Gonzalez may not write the most distinctive songs, but he’s got something going for him that about, oh, a dozen other people on the planet can lay claim to: An Argentine growing up in Sweden singing in English. That’s a recipe for unprecedented results. Plus, the man can sing what most others can only whisper."

Dusted Editor Otis Hart's Top Albums of 2005:
Veneer is his 5th favorite record of the year.

Magnet Magazine:
“It’s the handclaps that do it. They’re soft, nearly muted, and they only show up once, on a song about a “bloodstain on the ground” (“Lovestain”). These seemingly incongruous handclaps–as well as a brief bit of trumpet playing–are the only accompaniment to the voice and guitar that José González employs on Veneer’s 11 haunting acoustic tracks. Such simplicity means González’s deceptively complex guitar playing and brooding lyrics are the focus of his debut. It would be easy to read things into the fact that his parents are Argentinean (hey look, he fingerpicks his guitar!) and that he grew up in Sweden (hey look, his songs are… cold?), but that wouldn’t do much to explain his exquisitely morose sound. González’s lyrics are similarly inscrutable, making much of Veneer an exercise in dark simplicity that sounds more personal than it really is. Yes, if you added strings, you’d get Nick Drake circa Bryter Layter. But oddly enough, if you added Art Garfunkel, you’d get “The Sounds of Silence.””

Prefix Magazine:
"Though his vocal delivery is just as somber as Drake’s or Leonard Cohen’s and his classically picked guitar phrases often balance rhythm and lead like those of his predecessors, González’s arrangements can gain a sort of raucous momentum that sets this performer apart from those presumably in his record collection..."

San Diego City Beat:
"Nick Drake’s dead. So’s Elliott. But judging by Kings of Convenience and Iron & Wine, there are still practitioners of quietude who think a softly sung ballad is the most crushing thing they could ever do. Now add 26-year old Swede Jose Gonzalez to the mix, as Veneer is a gorgeous mix of gently plucked Spanish guitar and vocals that hush their way into the warmest daydreams."

Billboard.com article "Sweden? More Like Sweeten...":
"Rolling guitar rhythms and melodies dot his quiet, subtle and sometimes menacing songs on "Veneer," reminiscent of Nick Drake... This is his first output available to American audiences, an extremely promising example of big things to come."

SPIN Magazine:
"González is a Swedish-born Argentine folkie who exhales snatches of rainy-day poetry and finger-picks his guitar like he's backing a suicidal flamenco dancer. But his debut betrays no melodrama, just an exquisitely brittle, bruised articulation of how bewildering and devastating it can be to wake up every day and watch your hope slip away before the coffee is even made." A-

Salon.com Audiofile:
"The songs of Jose Gonzalez, the Swedish-born son of Argentine parents, owe little to the music of either country, but fall right in line with the soft and melancholy acoustic guitar balladry typified by Nick Drake..."

Entertainment Weekly:
"A Nick Drake manqué without — we hope — the suicidal tendencies, José González is a gifted Swedish singer-songwriter of Argentinean descent, whose deft, syncopated fingerpicking and hushed vocals are hypnotic on Veneer, and never more so than when he covers the Knife's ''Heartbeats,'' turning a synth-pop assault into a heartbreaking lullaby."

Ink 19:
"Without question, this is one of the best albums of the year."

Lost At Sea:
"Gonzalez’s style is shaped by his soft, finger-plucked guitar and gentle vocal melodies, and the entirety of Veneer harbors variations of these two elements. Essences of flamenco, bossa nova and American and Spanish folk music can be heard mixed throughout the eleven tracks, which are each subtly composed but also truly exceptional compositions."

WERS Radio Album of the Month, October:
"He often lets his complex guitar compositions fill in spaces left devoid of lyrics, a playing style that elevates Gonzalez in technical prowess above his modern folk peers because of its rhythmic complexity and intertwining lines..."

The Harvard College Crimson:
"González reaches the sort of confessional intimacy with which fellow Scandinavian artists like Kings of Convenience’s Erlend Øye only flirt... Pays homage at the scattered graves of the many troubled troubadours who fell in wars with themselves (Drake, Elliott Smith, countless others) and respond to the gaudy monuments erected by those who made their mark."

#13 in CMJ's Top 30 Albums of 2005:
"Born to Argentinian parents, living in Sweden, singing in English, international grab bag Jose Gonzáléz has a rootlessness that allows him to tell his story walking. Using nothing more than a hushed guitar and crystalline, effortless voice, Veneer's incredibly sparse bossa-folk was a simple and sublime exercise in music without borders."

CMJ New Music Report:
"Jose Gonzalez is a soulful Swede with Argentine roots, but Veneer suggests his bloodline meanders through the misty woodlands of the British Isles as well. The stark representation of voice accompanied only by an acoustic guitar reflects a Scandinavian minimalism, a Celtic mysticism and a Latin romanticism, with Gonzalez haunted and hushed vocals floating above expert bossa folk picking. An earnest collection, Veneer has no room for pretense in its brevity (it clocks in at just over 30 minutes), leaving more room to bask in its aching beauty."

Playback St. Louis/Norse Code:
"They’re nuts over this guy in Sweden, and it’s no mystery—Gonzalez is a first-class, absolutely dynamic talent. This record sounds great on a car stereo, on a living room stereo and on a little PC (I have heard it on all three). If you like acoustic music with drive, passion, dark romanticism and vocals that are just the right degree of emotive, Jose Gonzalez has a classic disc waiting for you."

Harp Magazine:
"A succinct acoustic meditation-11 cuts in 30 minutes-that includes hypnotic guitar figures (“Deadweight on Velveteen,” in particular) that create the feeling that you’ve stumbled into a pre-dawn workout for emerging finger-pickers..."

Chicago Tribune:
"Everything about guitarist-songwriter Jose Gonzalez surprises you. The first surprise is that he's Swedish. Second, unlike most of his rock-crazed countrymen, Gonzalez's hushed, solo acoustic guitar work recalls the eclectic yet introspective "folk" of British troubadours Bert Jansch and Nick Drake... "Veneer" really is a kindred spirit to Drake's classic "Pink Moon"..."

The Onion AV Club:
"He's a classically trained guitarist whose Argentinean parents reared him on The Beatles and João Gilberto, and on his debut album, Veneer, González weaves those influences into an elegant, haunting collection of songs in the vein of Nick Drake's Pink Moon, or Elliott Smith's early work. It's an intimate expression of all that's beautiful and terrifying in the world, recorded by one man in the dark of night in a quiet room..."

Pitchfork:
"It's taken two years for the debut album by singer/songwriter José González (Swedish, obv.) to reach these shores, and it's easy to see what nudged it here. González's sparse recordings showcase hushed, double-tracked vocals, haunted imagery, and a clearly gifted classical guitarist. His gripping acoustic cover of countryfolk the Knife's electro-pop "Heartbeats" was even a minor hit in his homeland. An ethereal, sometimes-aloof troubadour, González will sing you to sleep and then dash off under cover of night..."

Paste Magazine Artist Feature:
"On his first full-length album, Veneer...Gonzalez simplifies and deconstructs traditional folk instrumentation, reducing the songs to their most basic elements. A classical-influenced guitar and two-part indie-folk harmonies keep it clean and understated..."

Erasing Clouds:
"Gonzalez is a skilled guitarist and an intuitive singer; he uses both to make music that's pretty, but also mysterious... The music's uniqueness lies in how it feels breezy and relaxed in the moment, yet leaves a cloud of sadness hovering in the air."

Six Eyes:
"Jose Gonzalez has sparks spraying from his fingertips as his nails pull from his guitar, clear, vibrant notes. From his latest disc, Veneer, on Hidden Agenda Records, Gonzalez will have a hard time shaking the Nick Drake tag if he keeps putting out songs like "Stay In The Shade."

The Hub:
"Fans of Iron & Wine and Elliott Smith will fall for Jose Gonzalez. He will sweep them into similar reverie. Fans of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy will not be so far from home here, either."

Long Island Press:
"González's lilting voice is supported by his intricate classical-guitar work, and his gentle songs have astonishing power. The music feels like an early autumn sunset or a long drive on a desolate highway: hypnotizing and meditative, sad and beautiful."

Filter Magazine review for Stay In The Shade video:
"Relying simply on his own masterfully eloquent classical guitar and a voice that marries mature assuredness with poignant delicacy, José Gonzalez creates an inimitable sonic world whose allure is all but irresistible. His achingly emotional melodies and thought-provoking lyrics - all sung in perfect, crystalline English - combine in a manner of familiarity on the lines of Nick Drake with exotic flamenco tones, conjuring a unique and bewitching signature that is all his own..."

Uncommon Folk:
"Minimalism is the word on Veneer. Soft, hushed vocals, immaculate and brilliant guitar picking, and soft and subtle songs are the stuff that make up González’s work... Though very classical in style, though very personal in nature, Veneer sounds and feels new, with the ability to connect with new people and the new emotions of an ever-changing world..."

Popmatters:
"An album that longs to be heard, and after you hear it, you'll be longing to listen to it over and over..."

Indieworkshop:
"I can’t recommend this one enough. With the exception of Rocky Votolato, Owen, and maybe one or two others, there isn’t much quality minimal singer/songwriter stuff going on. There’s a problem that occurs with the singer/songwriter thing, it just gets stale after a while, Gonzalez doesn’t. “Veneer” is a quality album that even after a few dozen plays, will still feel good to come back to whenever you’re thirsty for something somber and beautiful."

All Music Guide:
"Don't let the name fool you; singer/songwriter Jose Gonzalez is the Swedish born and raised son of Argentinean parents. His debut album, Veneer, is a striking collection of hushed and autumnal indie pop bedroom songs that reside on the hi-fi end of the lo-fi spectrum. Gonzalez is definitely a member of the "quiet is the new loud" school as founded by Elliott Smith and the Kings of Convenience. Veneer is about as intimate as they come; it sounds like he is sitting right on the end of your bed singing just for you. At times, Gonzalez is a little more forceful than most of his schoolmates, often working himself into a tightly spinning ball of emotion (as on the driving "Lovestain" and the bluesy "Hints"). At these moments his voice is reminiscent of Mark Kozelek, only without the wild flights of pretension. Mostly though, he is content to cruise along on mellow vocals double-tracked behind gently plucked and strummed acoustic guitars. The beautiful "Heartbeats," "Deadweight on Velveteen," and the gently rollicking "Stay in the Shade" are the high watermarks of a remarkably focused and promising debut."

UK press...

Time Out London:
"Veneer displays an intense yet hushed talent, equally in thrall to the floating drone of post rock as to the elegant finger picking of Bert Jansch…"

Uncut Magazine:
"Mentioning a new artist in the same breath as Nick Drake has become shorthand for anyone with an acoustic guitar who favors melancholy restraint. Such a comparison, however, only hints at the talents of Jose Gonzalez. The Swedish singer-songwriter marries Drake’s mournful minimalism to deftly picked, Latino guitar. The results – melodic purity, a mesmeric rhythmic drive and stark emotionalism – are extraordinary." 

Telegraph:
"It's not just the dreamily introspective vocal and minor key melodies, the 11 songs of Veneer are all powered by Gonzales's mazily intricate guitar picking. He cites a mix of Beatles, flamenco, bossa nova and classical as his influences, but it's old Nick who springs to mind…[a] melancholy mood leavened by a very Drake-like fondness for playing cat and mouse with the beat."

Mojo Magazine:
"Dark, still, yet oddly powerful elliptical folk songs that suggest Paul Simon’s Duncan or John Martyn’s Solid Air adrift in Arthur Russell’s "World of Echo"."

Q Magazine:
"Lo-fi folk doesn't get any more exotic. 25-year-old Gonzalez was born and raised in Gothenburg to Argentinian parents, grew up listening to bossa nova and Joy Division, and deftly picks at his classical guitar with a flamenco flourish, singing in a hushed voice somewhere between Paul Simon and Nick Drake. Luckily, he's also very good. Occasionally, as on the gorgeous Heartbeats, his sparse music –just brooding guitar and double-tracked vocal—is uplifting. But the bulk of this 30-minute journey is downbeat, a little bit suicidal, and the most intimate music you'll hear all year."

Fact:
"A Swede of Argentine parentage, he's cutting a singular path through the world of intimate strumming and whispered lyrics. Serious of demeanor, cheap and disheveled of shirt, Gonzalez is jawdroppingly special, a rare talent with debut album that throbs with tender possibilities and giddy dexterity."

Boys Toys:
" Heralded as the missing link between Joao Gilberto and Paul Simon, this guy's music has that hypnotic quality that springs from disarmingly simple lyrics sung over tightly arranged instrumentation and is shared by the likes of Nick Drake, John Martyn and Damien Rice. A sophisticated pleasure." (four stars)

Flux:
"Gonzalez is a dogma folk singer. The songs are lo-fi crystalline masterpieces, with sharp guitar lines cut from the finest lines and darkest hours of Elliott Smith, Big Star and Chris Bell."