Today José González has shared a rework of “Broken Arrows” by Portico Quartet, a cinematic, genre-blending reinterpretation of his original track.
Portico Quartet’s remix preserves the hushed understatement of the original “Broken Arrows” but transforms its mood, replacing the intimate guitar lines with soft, resonant piano and weaving in offbeat vocals and layered instrumentation that gently and meditatively pull the listener in.
Portico Quartet are a London-based ensemble group whose music blurs the lines between jazz, electronica, and ambient. They are known for utilizing the hang drum in their dynamic compositions.
The rework is part of a series which features contributions from a small group of carefully-selected artists reimagining tracks from his debut album, celebrating the final chapter of the 20th anniversary of González’s acclaimed debut album, Veneer.
In addition, he has announced a “Heartbeats” 7”, which features the original track and a Logic1000 remix, that will be released on October 17, 2025.
Listen to “Broken Arrows (Portico Quartet Rework)” HERE.
Pre- order the “Heartbeats” 7” HERE.
José is amidst a European tour that will carry throughout the summer and into early Fall.
Additionally, José’s October 2024 US tour, which he was unfortunately forced to cancel due to illness in the family, has been rescheduled and will start in November 2025. If you had tickets for the October 2024 tour, they will be valid for the rescheduled 2025 show in your city. The tour will see González visit many cities that he has not performed in for over a decade and will span his entire career and catalog. Full dates are listed below.
The anniversary celebrations began in 2023 with the deluxe reissue of Veneer and a string of intimate solo shows, in which José performed the album in full to sold-out crowds across Europe and North America – including special performances at the Royal Albert Hall, Elbphilharmonie, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Now, the story comes full circle with a new series of remixes, each one offering a fresh perspective on the songs that helped define José’s singular sound.
Veneer had a lasting impact on a generation of artists by channeling the emotional authenticity of folk music through a more modern, rhythmic, and less purist lens. Everything about it felt quietly radical, from its stark, minimalist artwork, to the reverse-engineered brilliance of José’s cover of The Knife’s “Heartbeats.” It was fresh and forward-thinking, despite being built almost entirely around a single classical guitar and one voice.
In a 2024 interview for the Life of the Record podcast, which explored the making of Veneer, José spoke about wanting “to do something more repetitive and linear, inspired from, sort of dance music.” He was consciously drawing from electronic and minimal influences, inspired to write songs that could be “really easy for someone to do a remix [of] by just adding a house beat underneath.” The crossover potential was further highlighted in 2006, when Ministry of Sound included “Heartbeats” on Volume 9 of their acclaimed Chillout Sessions compilation series. This move – along with endorsements and collaborations with the likes of DJ Tiësto, Zero 7, and British tastemaker Giles Peterson -helped place José in the unlikely position of being both a revered figure in the folk/alternative world and a genre-crossing outlier, soundtracking both late-night DJ sets and the post-club drift of the early hours. His music anticipated the genre-fluid listening habits that platforms like Pitchfork began to champion in the early 2010s, as the boundaries between indie, electronic, and R&B worlds began to dissolve.
José is currently in the studio working on new material for what will become his fifth studio album, his first full-length collection of original songs since Local Valley in 2021.
2025 TOUR DATES:
EUROPEAN TOUR DATES:
8/15/2025 – Bodø, NO – Parkenfestivalen
9/25/2025 – Istanbul, TR – Zorlu PSM
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:
11/10/2025 – Oklahoma City, OK – Tower Theatre
11/11/2025 – Little Rock, AR – Robinson Performance Hall
11/13/2025 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
11/14/2025 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
11/15/2025 – Durham, NC – The Carolina Theatre
11/16/2025 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
11/18/2025 – St. Louis, MO – The Hawthorn
11/19/2025 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Theatre and Ballroom
11/20/2025 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
