Lost song of the day

- Junip -- "Black Refuge" off Black Refuge EP

I've seen Jose Gonzalez in concert many times.  He is one of my favorite artists despite his sometimes coma-inducing music, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.   I've seen shows by him in a music club, in an auditorium, at an outdoor concert, and in a bar, and my problem has always been that he sounds exactly the same each time I see him.  There is rarely any change of emotion, rarely any deviation from the studio versions of his songs.  I've downloaded some of his concerts and I can never tell the difference -- he doesn't "riff", he doesn't "jam".

When I first discovered this song a few years ago, I was excited because it added to the very limited Jose Gonzalez catalogue.  Junip is more a project than a band; there are only a handful of songs that have been released and despite promises of a full length Junip album somewhere down the line, he has been devoted to solo touring.

His first record, Veneer, was almost exclusively just him and a guitar.  In Our Nature, which came out in 2007, was a lot more produced, a lot heavier, and a lot darker.   I liked both albums, but felt like Veneer was where he was most comfortable.  This track, Black Refuge, is much more In Our Nature than Veneer; its more electric, and harder, and more frightening.