If Jose Gonzalez had a backing band, they very well could call themselves Medicine for the People (if not for Nahko taking that name – although he seems chill enough to share). Gonzalez’s third effort, Vestiges & Claws, is a 42-minute anxiolytic, perfect for the fried comedown of a festival-goer as well as a way to take the edge off for any uptight professional. His message and delivery, from a cynical point of view, is straight-up campfire music, but the warmth of both his guitar and his voice (plus his intricate finger-picking) give that genre plenty of life.
‘With the Ink of a Ghost‘
On his return from a seven year solo album hiatus, Gonzalez employs several earthy images to go with his throaty guitar – “yearnings” take life and “evaporate in the morning light” between the world’s changing via tides and winds. You can practically smell the forest:
‘Let it Carry You‘
Gonzalez’s music might not make you want to “dance the night away,” but it certainly will “loosen building tensions.” His anti-deadline and stop-to-smell-the-roses message is simply just not followed in today’s first world, but it should be;
‘Stories We Build, Stories We Tell‘
Lies and rationalizations, or “stories we build [and] tell,” will “ride” you incessantly – but this isn’t an indictment, rather a call to drop these toxic bits of dishonesty for our own well-being. Once again, Gonzalez’s message here is one of therapeutic advice:
‘The Forest‘
While his guitar work makes you feel like you’re camping in the most tranquil of fog-blanketed, wintry forests (particularly earlier tracks on this album), he explicitly puts you there on this track. He’s suffering from obliviousness, but the nature metaphors’ significance on that theme is unclear:
‘Leaf Off / The Cave‘
More spiritual enlightenment and serenity from Jose here, with a slight twist – failing to transcend is represented as both being in a cave and using a leaf as a pacifier. Like “Let It Carry You” before it, this is one of the more upbeat tracks on this album to spread this message:
‘Every Age‘
While wisdom abounds in this track, it’s undeniably a cheesy bit of wisdom. So far, this is the best example of “campfire music” onto which the (aforementioned) cynic can latch. Once again, to get the message across, Gonzalez uses “seed,” “tree” and “farm” metaphors, further emphasizing nature:
‘What Will‘
Jose finally steps outside his ‘reach Nirvana’ ethos (slightly) to get to the same endpoint, but from a more confrontational, revolutionary tactic. Refusing “silent,” “lazy acceptance of the norm” is not only healthy for one’s self, but also necessary to spread to others:
‘Vissel‘
Doubling down on peaceful, soothing lyricism is this meditative ballad with no words at all. The vamping bass-line gives the instrumental this calm (just in case the previous track’s call to arms got you mildly tense):
[Instrumental]
‘Afterglow‘
Punctuated by a nice groove in seven, the worries about the “afterglow” we’ll leave after we’re gone have varied significance. For one, there’s the old saying ‘we preach our own funeral as we go through life.’ Outside of that, there’s the environmental aspect to our actions on earth:
‘Open Book‘
Wrapping up the album is a track which, disappointingly, sounds a lot like “Dust in the Wind,” at least in the intro. Perhaps that fits as it’s the track outlining his self-“doubt” and worries – after he’s spent the whole record assuaging the listener’s fears:
