As international pop stars go, Jose Gonzalez is about as unlikely as they come. The soft-spoken son of a Swedish mother and an Argentinean father, Gonzalez makes music with little more than a classical guitar and his reedy, resonant voice. Yet his debut album, “Veneer,” managed to sell more than 700,000 copies worldwide, propelled in part by a hit cover of “Heartbeats” by Swedish electronica duo the Knife. “Heartbeats” was famously featured in a TV commercial for Sony Bravia, in which thousands of brightly colored rubber balls bounced down a San Francisco street. Contrary to popular belief, the balls were real, not computer generated—a fitting metaphor for how Gonzalez likes to work, using as little technology as possible to capture his stark, intimate sound.

From New York, Gonzalez talked about walking away from molecular biology, downloading podcasts to improve his English, and making his second album, “In Our Nature.”

When “Veneer” came out, you were studying to be a biochemist?
Yes, I was doing my Master’s in molecular biology.

Were you thinking at the time, “OK, I’ll go out on tour for awhile, and then I’ll get back to the lab?”
Yeah, I was trying to do both. I saw a future where I was doing biochemistry and would record on weekends, do a couple of shows.

So when “Veneer” sold 700,000 copies worldwide, that must’ve taken you a bit by surprise.
It took me by surprise when I released it in Sweden. I was aiming at two, three thousand, maybe? So when I actually sold gold in Sweden [50,000 copies], that was a really, really big surprise. I recorded it at home in my kitchen.

Did you record the new album in a studio, as opposed to the kitchen?
Yeah, I got a small…it’s more like an office space. I’ve got my computer there, my guitar. I wanted to record completely on my own and not get carried away with overproducing.

Which I think your fans will really appreciate. One thing people seem connect with in your music is that it’s so direct and—I want to say “simple”—
Yes, I like the word “simple.” I like the word “primitive,” also.

I read another interview in which you said the reason you cover songs like Kylie Minogue’s “Hand on Your Heart” and Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is because they’re love songs, and you don’t like to write love songs yourself. Is that still true?
Yeah, because it gets very personal and I don’t really want to write about me. It’s a dilemma, because the easiest way to get a song to resonate with people is writing something very personal. But I’d rather try to write about general stuff that can still resonate with people, but doesn’t have to be about me.  

Do you ever hear any feedback from the artists whose songs you’ve covered? Like have you heard from anyone in Massive Attack about your version of “Teardrop”?
No, I haven’t. I hope they like it.

You mentioned that you’re still working on your English. Have you ever written lyrics in Swedish or Spanish?
No. I tried to write in Spanish, and Swedish sounds corny. But I remember feeling [when I started writing] that it was actually nice to sing in a language that wasn’t what everybody spoke, because you get a more poetic feeling when you don’t really understand all of it. Also, [with] me not wanting to write about myself, using another language gave it some distance. Now I’m happy I chose English, because I’ve reached more people.