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Rating: Melancholy is a season that should be experienced with a certain degree of caution. Some shun it out of fear, while others love to savor it like a sweet wine: holding onto its roundness, swallowing slowly with the awareness that, in the worst case scenario, a good glass of water can set things right.
The key to understanding an album like "The Long Term Physical Effects Are Not Yet Known" by JJJ lies precisely in the relationship each of us has with this season. Two years after its release, it is only now, in the height of summer, that I'm able to withstand the challenges of an album so profoundly capable of delving into the human soul leaving you as a skeleton against a wall.
JJJ comes from the north, he is tall, lanky, and androgynous, with a most precious voice that carries both the diamond-like airiness of Morten Harket and the velvety softness of George Michael. Several albums to his name. A lot of research. However, it seems now, after the successful "Poison" (2001), the Swede has settled into a mixed territory, encapsulating in this album all the genres that have most influenced him. It ranges from the smoky ballad "She doesn't live here anymore" to the Portishead-style trip-hop of "Time will show me"; from the lacerations of "Coffin" and "Only for you", to the crooning of "Peculiar" not forgetting the suggested jazz of "As good as it gets". It seems like a varied album, sure. Nonetheless, it's extremely dangerous because, although the intention to stay within pop boundaries is strong ("Tell me when the party is over"), the intention and intensity of the storytelling are truly devastating and are anything but "popular."
It's an album that I've only learned to love today, on a July day, with the sun hitting my face cradled by the sea pine scent as I seek adequate refreshment in afternoon lemonades. I'm not sure if the side effects have yet to manifest, but I like to think and proudly tell my dear JJJ that finally
After two good years / I've got you by the ba**s.
Touché!
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