José González's first album in six years, Local Valley, is due out September 17 via Mute, and he's just shared another single from it, "Head On," which you can watch the video for below. "I wrote it as a combat song or a list of instructions...a manual," José says. "I mean both ‘straight ahead’ and head ON - as in switching on your mind. It was inspired by Fela Kuti’s 'Zombie' and the way I used to write lyrics for my hardcore band."
Cee Karlsson, who directed the accompanying video, says, "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. Traveling from mind to mind in a never-ending war of ideas that we all participate in and are influenced by."