MP3: José González - Cycling trivialities
Note: The last few Fridays of the year are dedicated to revisiting great tracks I passed on when they were fresh.
This one's for all the people who only know José González from his covers. It's been well-established that he's a brilliant reinterpreter of other people's songs, but unfortunately, such attention is detrimental to the appreciation of his self-penned material. It's a shame because he's really quite good, at times even great. For instance, I fell in love with "Crosses" before I ever heard "Heartbeats", hence its inclusion on my first "Reader's companion" comp. As for his sophomore release "In our nature", "Teardrops" is a fine cover selection, but it can't come close to touching the beauty of "Cycling trivialities". It's a bitter piece lamenting the endless parade of bullshit we all face, building up far beyond his usual sparse guitar+vocals sound. "Who cares in a hundred years from now?" A fitting epitaph for such an epic album closer. My hope is that José's originals will be the songs of his that we want to hear in years to come. It will live on for me at the very least.
José González - Cycling trivialities