I’m not sure what it is that makes José Gonzalez’s folk guitar so arresting where so many others playing in that vein seem insubstantial. I was last hooked on his doom-laden, skeletal cover of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop,” and even that seemed bigger and more fearsome than its constituent elements. Along with fellow Swedes Elias Araya and Tobias Winterkorn, he forms Junip, which will release a sophomore album in April.

The first single, “Line of Fire,” is a beguilingly motorized song, pumping effortlessly forward for its entire five and a half minutes. It builds from a shuffle and strum to something Moog-inflected and string-drenched and altogether triumphant in spirit. Really, there’s no doing it justice—just let it carry you off in all its oceanic splendor.

We can expect the rest of the self-titled album to deliver more of that seductive dream-haze pop and barely break a sweat doing it. Junip formed in the late 90s but didn’t release any music until 2005—a full LP didn’t surface until 2010—and you can hear that patience in their work. These dudes are in no rush. They’re going to get it just right, every time.


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