Pick four songs from any band and you can tell a lot about their sound. This summer, I’m featuring #RockBlocks, four picks from bands across various genres. They might be wildly different from each other, but what binds them together is the fact that they’re all a part of my life soundtrack.

In Jose Gonzalez’s limited, but impactful contributions to movie soundtracks, he has tended to venture beyond his comfort zone, opening up the musical possibilities and significantly expanding his instrumentation. What makes “Stay Alive” an unusual track is the song appears to be completely devoid of his trademark classical guitar sound — and that’s exactly what makes it so good.

From the get go, the song is driven by piano, not the acoustic guitar. In your first listen, you wait for the acoustic guitar to arrive, but it never does. Instead the song continues to evolve and expand beyond the piano with drums, electric guitar and synthesizers to supply a symphonic accompaniment. While it’s a significant departure instrumentally, there’s something about “Stay Alive” that seems to capture the essence of Jose Gonzalez. Perhaps it’s this, that even with a more sonic, fuller expression his signature soft vocal melody is still firmly intact.

“Dawn is coming. Open your eyes.”