José González Announces Fifth Album, Shares Title Track ‘Against The Dying Light’
This is marks González’s first album since 2021’s Local Valley.
Image Ellika Henriksson
Acclaimed Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist José González has revealed that his new album, Against The Dying Light, is set to drop on Friday 27 March via Mute Records (US/Canada) and City Slang (rest of the world).
Touted as a sister album to 2021’s acclaimed Local Valley, González’s new record is inspired by the likes of Jonathan Haidt, Liv Boeree, Yuval Harari and Steven Pinker and explores the human condition, moral philosophy, Game Theory and more.
“Against The Dying Of The Light is a collection of songs reflecting on humanity,” says González. “Who we are – tribes of sentient apes with stories that sometimes are incompatible with each other and tools that could eventually lead to dystopia or extinction. It’s also a reflection of how we create hurdles to human flourishing by stubbornly clinging to dogmatic ideologies, where people follow dudes who pretend to know shit they don’t.
“As a concerned world citizen, I wrote these songs as a reflection of our times. Times of amazing progress, but also worrying backslides to dogmatic tribal ideologies and an extremely uncertain future. These are songs about how we can navigate humanity towards flourishing on an individual and a collective level. They can be listened to just for the sounds, harmonies, and rhythms, but the lyrics are meant to inspire people to engage and take action by collaborating to solve collective problems. For humanism and enlightenment values and against the dying of the light.”
Along with announcing the album, José González has shared the title track, a pleasant acoustic number that follows the previously released Spanish-language first single, ‘Pajarito’.
“‘Against The Dying Of The Light’ is a song reflecting on humanity in 2025,” says González. “It’s about accepting who we are and what led us here, since the past can’t be changed. Then, about refocusing our attention on the challenges ahead, like pervert incentives and algorithms that aren't in line with human flourishing. Even though natural selection led us here, we don’t have to do what is in the gene’s best interest. And even though cultural evolution led to our societies, we don’t have to keep all the narratives if they drag us down. And even though we have enormous opportunities with new technology that can eventually design and copy itself, we don’t have to build it right away if it has the potential to make us obsolete. We can rebel against these replicators, rebel against the dying of the light.”
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Since the release of his debut album Veneer in 2003, José González has established himself as one of the world’s great singer-songwriters.
The award-winning creative has released four albums and a stack of EPs and is renowned for his intriguing covers of other artists.
González has also announced a run of North American shows across April and May to celebrate the release of Against The Dying Light, with a world tour hopefully on the horizon.
‘Against The Dying Light’ by José González is out now. Listen here. Against The Dying Light Friday 27 March via Mute Records (US/Canada) and City Slang (rest of the world). Pre-order/pre-save here.
