The Year's Greatest Musical Obscurity

We make no secret about our affection for the music of Sweden. And lately, one artist in particular has been making us giddy. The “band,” or whatever, is called JJ and we know almost nothing about him/it/them, though we prefer to imagine the act as a boy-girl duo like the Eurythmics. In any event, JJ’s 2009 album jj n° 2 (whatever that means!) is probably the year’s greatest obscurity. There are at least nine reasons to buy this album, because there are nine songs, none of them bad. So join us as we go track-by-track in an attempt to persuade you to purchase jj n° 2 and support the Swedish economy.

1. “Things Will Never Be The Same Again”— We hear traces of Everything But The Girl chanteuse Tracy Thorn (and, dare we say, Enya?) in the vocals, but the music is something else entirely, a weirdly awesome hybrid of reggae lilt and chamber-music violin.

2. “From Africa to Málaga”— Killer drums drive this creamy pop song, popping all around the melody like little soap bubbles. Keyboards that should be cheesy are not.

3. “Ecstasy”— We thought we recognized that hook. But what was it? A friend gently delivered the news, which arrived with the jolt of a forehead slap: The hook is from Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop.”

4. “Are You Still In Vallda”— Hey, acoustic guitar! And the sounds of chirping birds! After three more-or-less electronic pop songs, this one feels like a pretty conventional bit of breathy singer/songwriter fare, like something Rose Melberg might’ve cooked up. It’s about as far across the pop spectrum as you could get after an interpolation of “Lollipop,” and yet, for JJ, this too seems totally natural.

5. “My Love”— And here we have a song that incorporates both the acoustic-pop sound and the dreamy, bloopy keyboard soundscape. And the vocals! Have you noticed how they were produced with that subtle echo effect, so they always seem like they’re trailing just behind the melody, like a ghost?

6. “Intermezzo”— The song begins with looped human laughter, which is both charming and creepy at the same time. (JJ likes to do multiple, seemingly contradictory things at the same time.) The melody here is almost pointillist in its detail.

7. “My Hopes And Dreams”— The Enya vibe returns. (That Shepherd Moons record is totally not bad, y’all.) And now it sounds as though JJ is recording in the middle of a tornado. You can hear the wind swirling while the band soldiers on with yet another infectious tune. Best use of wind in a pop song since, um, Kansas?

8. “Masterplan”— Our favorite JJ song, hands down. We are obsessed with it, and we believe that it ends way too soon, like The Smiths’ “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want,” begging to be repeated. The riff is indelible. The vocals never better. And the inclusion, at the 57-second mark, of a non-sequitur snippet from this hilarious video, is absolute genius.

9. “Me & Dean”— The last song begins with the sound of someone clearing her throat, and has a decidedly demo-y feel throughout the tune, which adds to its ramshackle charm. The falsetto at outro at first feels jokey, and then becomes sublime.