Jose Gonzalez

On his sophomore album, the Swedish singer and guitarist takes the basic elements of an acoustic troubadour's craft and explores their possibilities, not only as ingredients of songs, but as sounds to be enjoyed in their own right. A stray breath, the buzzing of guitar strings, a hand scraping across the frets: these are all shades in González's palette. The biggest embellishment you're likely to hear is a metronomic foot-tap, subtle hand percussion, or a backing vocal by Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagamo. Where the Knife's "haunted house" sound is informed by minimal techno, González's lo-fi acoustic guitar music could be dubbed "minimal folk."