"José Gonzalez is at his best when he sings about tits and babes"

Not everyone knows that,

but the low-key Gothenburger José Gonzalez is one of Sweden's largest music exports.

Much thanks to their sleek and effectively fine-tuned covers, of course, on artists like The Knife, Kylie Minogue and Massive Attack.

That he is now doing a cover of Laleh is therefore so logical that one wonders why it did not come earlier.

Because if there is one male equivalent of Laleh, it is José Gonzalez.

Both have a God-fearing musical talent

- almost everything they touch becomes so beautiful that you want to cry.

It is basically impossible to dislike them, at the same time it is exactly what makes you annoyed.

It's too nice, nothing that rubs - if there was a stamp for "state-approved music", then they would get it.

But on the fourth album, it should change: According to all press releases and interviews, this should be his political album.

And anyone who follows Gonzalez on Twitter knows that he is interested, or yes - more than interested, in concepts such as effective altruism, secular humanism and eco-modernism.

At Local Valley, he asks questions

about where we come from, notes how small we are and how little we know. He also exudes some fatigue when it comes to religion and savvy.

The best and most fun is in the song Tjomme where his soft, foggy dinner party voice sings lines like "Tjomme, tjomme, but what the hell are you doing now, you are completely lost, you are completely exhausted, do not dare to think for yourself, everything is based on ancient hearsay ”. And that on the new album he not only sings in English but also in his mother tongues Swedish and Spanish gives a completely new and more personal edge to his soft, smooth songs.

are the political-philosophical songs either dangerously platitude-heavy or too eager to write the listener on the nose. Instead, it turns out to be the songs with heart, not brain, which is the album's real treasure. Because in addition to his community involvement, José Gonzalez at Local Valley shows that he can actually let go if he wants to.

Among Spanish guitars, airy, half-chorded parts and familiar Simon and Garfunkle flirts, a drum machine is suddenly heard - yes. The soft thump makes the song Swing completely irresistible, not least when Gonzalez sings that we should swing our bellies and shake our butts like seagrass.

explicit sex song - Who would have thought that José Gonzalez could sing about tits and ecstasy - and make it sound both sexy and romantic? More like that, thank you.

But perhaps the most beautiful is still Little G, in all its simplicity. With a lyrics that only consists of the words little old lady, and with a nice rocking rhythm, it sounds just like when your parents tried to sing one to sleep, even though they had forgotten the lyrics to the lullaby (yes okay, if you had

musical parents ). And look there - in just two words, it manages to say just about everything about love and parenthood.