José González has today released a new song called ‘Head On’, the latest offering from his upcoming album Local Valley. It’s accompanied by a video directed by Mikel Cee Karlsson (Fever Ray, Junip), which you can check out below.
“I wrote ‘Head On’; as a combat song or a list of instructions…a manual. I mean both ‘straight ahead’ and head ON – as in switching on your mind,” González explained in a statement. “It was inspired by Fela Kuti’s ‘Zombie’; and the way I used to write lyrics for my hardcore band. It’s also in the vein of my song ‘What Will’ from 2015. That one and this one are both anti-dogma, pro reason songs. Some of the terms I use like ‘rent seeker’ or ‘value extractor’; are from books on economics that I’ve been reading, like The Value of Everything by Mariana Mazzucato.”
Director Mikel Cee Karlsson added: “The animations for ‘Head On’ are based on a cellular automaton called ‘Game of Life’ created by mathematician John Horton Conway. ’Game of Life’ has emergent properties, meaning that complex forms can arise, or evolve, through simple individual parts. Without any designer, plan or intent. In the video, we used visuals from ‘Game of Life’ as an analogy for the flow of information; bits of information forming patterns. Adapting. Evolving. Mutating. Like memes, or mind viruses; positive, neutral or negative. Travelling from mind to mind in a never-ending war of ideas that we all participate in and are influenced by.”
Local Valley arrives September 17 via City Slang. It includes the previously released songs ‘Visions’ and ‘El Invento’.
