Jj - V

The emergence of Swedish duo JJ in March 2009 was both meaningful and mysterious. A debut single, JJ no.1, enchanted the music press, simultaneously existing across indie-pop and hip-hop spectrums, excitingly new and yet frustratingly vague in it's presentation. This was a taste, a scent, something intangible, an impression made without force. The music was here, but little else it's makers remained anonymous. Pitchfork's Best New Music review for the band's debut album, summer 2009's JJno.2, spoke first of their enigmatic qualities, rather than precisely what this music was: another sumptuous menagerie of styles, blended by an expert hand, intoxicating and otherworldly. Both Elin Kastlander and Joakim Benon appeared in the Marcus Soderlund-directed video to ?Let Go?. Cover, broken. Evidently at the top of their game in 2014, JJ are ready to, in Benon's words, communicate with the world, quite unlike they've ever done so before. They're embracing, not retreating. Besides, mysteries are more frustrating than fascinating without resolution.