Junip: Fields

Fans of singer-songwriter José González will recognize the basic approach of his band Junip. González’s trio features drums, organ, and an overall louder sound than González’s usual soft finger-picking and whispery vocals, but the song-structure isn’t that different from González’s solo albums; he’s still partial to textured sounds repeated in short loops. Five years after Junip’s rough debut EP, Black Refuge, González has reconvened the boys for Fields, a more polished effort that fills out Junip’s sound, adding electronic enhancements and trippy trappings that sometimes push its sound closer to The Beta Band than Iron & Wine. Dynamics aren’t González’s forte; the way a Junip song begins pretty well establishes what it’s going to do for the next three minutes or so. But the fine shading makes a difference: the funky organ and pattering drums on “Always,” the watery electric organ and mounting urgency of “Rope & Summit,” the slap and pluck and double-tracked vocals of “It’s Alright,” and so on. González rarely writes full, indelible songs, but he’s great at building enticing fragments into lasting moments.