In Our Nature

Jose Gonzalez rose to prominence on a good cover song, which overshadowed much of his debut record. On his eagerly anticipated follow-up album, "In Our Nature," Gonzalez's original material shines through without interruption, though not necessarily for the best.

Gonzalez's first album was most often compared to the moody acoustic work of Nick Drake, despite the fact that Gonzalez only first heard of Drake from music critics. His follow-up is no different, and if anything, it's even more moody.

"In Our Nature" features several songs about the deadly sins, as well as political rants and very passionate vocals matched by fierce acoustic guitar playing. As on the previous album, there is a cover of an electronica song. This time it's Massive Attack's "Teardrop." Gonzalez does what any good cover artist should ? change the entire structure of the original song rather than just altering superficial parts of it. However, while this method turned "Heartbeats" into a hit, "Teardrop" is less likely to catch a crowd.

The standouts on this record are songs like "Down the Line" and "Killing for Love," which combine repetitive lyrics with a chugging guitar line and, in the case of the latter song, an infectious percussive beat.

However, on the whole, this is a lackluster album that fails to take Gonzalez's sound in any remotely new direction. Instead, he seems content to pigeonhole himself as the quiet late night acoustic rocker.