ON TOUR in 2006!

Full SXSW itinerary TBA…
March 15, 2006 SXSW Showcase @ Eternal 9:30PM – Austin TX
March 17, 2006 SXSW / Pitchfork-Windish Agency Party @ Emo’s Annex – Austin
March 19, 2006 Swedish American Hall - San Francisco CA
March 20, 2006 89.9 KCRW Presents @ The Hotel Cafe - Los Angeles CA
March 21, 2006 Live-in-the-studio on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic – LA, CA
March 21, 2006 89.9 KCRW Presents @ Jensen Rec Center - Echo Park CA
March 22, 2006 Joe's Pub 7:30 show - New York NY
March 22, 2006 Joe's Pub 9:30 show - New York NY
March 23, 2006 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Boston MA (w/The Books)
March 24, 2006 Bowery Ballroom - New York NY (w/The Books)
March 25, 2006 International House - Philadelphia PA (w/The Books)

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

Check out the "Stay In The Shade" VIDEO.

Domestic release for Jose's strongest EP, in popular jewelcase packaging! Hidden Agenda Records offers the Stay In The Shade EP by Swedish/Argentine songwriter José González. It is the follow-up to José’s acclaimed debut album Veneer, released in the U.S. in September 2005 by Hidden Agenda. The EP features an extended version of "Stay In The Shade"; two amazing album-worthy b-sides, "Sensing Owls" and "Down The Hillside"; José's cover of the Kylie Minogue hit "Hand On Your Heart"; and an instrumental track (for all those John Fahey fans out there).

PRESS FOR THE NEW EP...

Billboard:
"The stripped-down acoustic guitar meets soft percussion formula is the same, but Gonazlez's voice is as warm as the guitar strumming is simple. A take on Kylie Minogue's "Hand on Your Heart" turns the club staple into an actual love song, while the closing instrumental is a beautiful, soft crescendo piece with an alto horn compliment. Recommended for fans of quiet, folk traditions."

Pitchfork:
"The tightly double-tracked vocal fjords and sinuous finger-picking remain, as do González's lyrics, which stick mostly to Nick Drake's strangely suggestive universals: "It's warm in the blood/ Cold in the rain," he coos on erstwhile B-side "Down the Hillside", an incongruously chipper (for Gonzo) ditty about cemeteries. Another former flip, "Sensing Owls", slows the pace for a tralatitious take on mountaintops, coming-outs, and the lack of designated drivers. The biggest changes from Veneer are an increased use of hand percussion and less frequent bossa nova tinges, so hold onto your knitted hats..."

All Music Guide:
"Jose Gonzalez' debut album, Veneer, showed an artist with an already firm grasp of songcraft and a real gift for displaying tender emotions without any hint of preciousness. On his 2006 EP Stay in the Shade, Gonzalez has made subtle changes to his sound, expanding the scope the music and becoming more direct with his voice. It works very well, much like Iron & Wine's very similar transition. Of the five tracks on the EP, Stay in the Shade sounds most like a track from Veneer, because it is a re-recorded (and slightly better for it) version of a song that appeared there. The rest of the disc is filled with some fine songs that benefit from Gonzalez's new approach. "Down the Hillside" features percussion and background vocal harmonies as well as Gonzalez's most open and easy sounding song to date, far less introspective but no less affecting. "Sensing Owls" also features bongos and the same sense of expansiveness, which is even stronger on his breathtaking cover of Kylie Minogue's "Hand on Your Heart." Gonzalez could have a strong career just reinterpreting dance-pop tunes (his cover of Knife's" Heartbeats" on Veneer and this prove it) but judging how strong his first two records are, he also seems set for a long run as a sweetheart of the Quiet is the New Loud set." (Tim Sendra)

Prefix Mag New Release Preview:
"Last year's Veneer LP from this Sweden native swept through September like a small whirlwind of fallen leaves. Now there's a huge goddamned pile of leaves. A Sony commercial, critical acclaim, and massive blog love have dragged González's hushed sentiments reluctantly into the spotlight. The follow-up EP will feature a couple b-sides and yet another carefully chosen cover - this time from Kylie Minogue."

Mundane Sounds:
"The five songs found here are beautiful, engaging folk numbers; the Nick Drake and Elliott Smith comparisons are still valid, especially on the title track; but unlike the debut, these elements aren’t quite as heavy as they were there. His style is breezy, jazz-like; it’s hard not to think of vintage Everything But The Girl, especially on “Down The Hillside” and “Sensing Owls.” His cover of Kylie Minogue’s “Hand On Your Heart,” much like his other pop covers, draws the listener into a world that might have been missed."

Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages:
"Jose Gonzalez is 25-year-old Swedish singer of Argentine extraction who covers Kylie Minogue tunes and sounds like a '60s British folkie. His acoustic guitar picking, precise but not fussy, and his 2:00 a.m. singing, gentle but not precious, brooding but not dour, combine for bohemian easy-listening music worth hearing even if you already have Nick Drake and/or Bert Jansch records. This EP leads with an extended version of "Stay in the Shade," from Gonzalez's 2005 full-length, Veneer, and follows with a handful of generally tuneful B-sides. His version of Minogue's "Hand on Your Heart" recalls Aztec Camera's take on Van Halen's "Jump": an acoustic rendering of a pop hit that bypasses novelty entirely just by aiming for the vulnerable heart of a good song."

Stylus Magazine / Stypod:
"Jose Gonzalez’s swoon-inducing, exquisite interpretation of “Hand on Your Heart”—as first evinced on a split single with countryman and charming fellow arch-bard Jens Lekman—is a gentle, melancholic marvel. Gonzales re-writes Stock Aitken and Waterman’s teenage bike-shed attitude as the sweetest of treatises on denial and desolation; he re-casts the song’s legwarmer-saddled, sassy protagonist as a washed-up, worn-out, love-lorn wonder. His temperate guitar patterns tumble like tears; his words crackle like the fire in his heart. “I want to hear you tell me you don’t want my love,” he fruitlessly bids to assert. On this, (and on his debut, Veneer), Gonzalez circumscribes the fragility of life at the hands of man..."

Tripwire Review:
"González's new EP picks up right where his giant of a debut album left off and includes an extended version of the album track "Stay In The Shade", plus two album-worthy b-sides, a Kylie Minogue cover and a newly remastered instrumental track. Each song is a beautiful and unique piece of artistic expression and a look into the heart of a man confronting his demons. His simple compositions are made up primarily of a single, acoustic guitar and vocals. Scattered, downplayed percussion peppers the EP as well, but it almost disappears into music once Jose begins to sing, as all attention is focused upon his distinct voice..."

Said The Gramophone:
"José González takes a Kylie Minogue song - a song of demands, yeah of sadness, - and he makes a case for love using only the promise of his voice, the persistence of his gaze, the warmth you sense in the fingers that play the guitar. A shaker starts, he keeps playing, but he's got no more to say. He stares at you. And there - one two three four - you are standing in that snowfield, deciding whether or not to follow. Snowflakes? None. Just you and him and a still afternoon that's about to move."

Cameron Deyhly:
"The EP delivers solidly from beginning to end and gives us an accurate cross section of his work. This is a perfect intro to his growing discography for someone new to the sound but also a must have for fans who were there from the beginning. Get on to the bus."