If it wasn't for Sony Bravia and their clever marketing campaign, Jose Gonzalez would probably still be plugging away at the ol' 9-5, playing guitar in some dingy Gothenburg indie bars at weekends and generally not being very successful. However, it was the well-timed attack of that multi-coloured 'balls' ad, featuring Gonzalez's doleful cover of The Knife's 'Heartbeats' that gave the Swedish troubadour's debut album Veneer - and consequently, his career - a leg-up. Gonzalez specialises in two things: the first is hushed, sombre acoustic tracks that are so muted, they're barely there; the second, cover versions that are intended to be innovative and original, but are just hushed, sombre and acoustic versions of the same song - and by-and-large, bloody boring, too. In Our Nature doesn't waver from that blueprint, and is basically a continuation of Veneer's placid trappings. Gonzalez is undoubtedly a very talented guitarist, and his delicate plucking is at times, soothing. However, the vast majority of his songwriting is predictable and monotonous, with songs so protracted that they'd make a senile arthritis-sufferer look lively. Killing For Love, In Our Nature, The Nest: the whole album is choc-full of insignificant, drab, folky offerings, while the obligatory cover (there had to be one) of Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' - the second acoustic cover of that song on display in recent months - is almost as pointless as Newton Faulkner's. In Our Nature is a little over half an hour long, but seems twice that length (the unbearably-long closer Cycling Trivialities doesn't help matters), ensuring that Jose Gonzalez will top everyone's 'Who would be the last person you would invite to a party in 2007?' list. In Our Nature is supposedly an album about the 'human condition'; if that is the case, then we truly are all f****d.
