Jay-Jay Johanson
Whiskey

Jay-Jay Johanson is a product of the Swedish chill and the '90s. Of those alien sounds that invade the decade, when everyone, more or less, gets lost among the clouds of trip-hop, drum'n'bass, and finally, human electronic music. Guitars are set aside, and it's time to embrace decadent, muffled, and warm atmospheres, with nods to jazz, dub, rap, the sublimation of scratch, and mandatory sampling. Massive Attack, Archive, Lamb, Tricky, Portishead manage to win over (or, at least, not be hated by) even the hearts of the oldest and most jaded rockers. Yes, Portishead. Jay-Jay Johanson is a product of the Swedish chill, the '90s, and Portishead, from which he inherits the darkness and beauty of sounds.

The keyword to enter the world of "Whiskey," Jay-Jay Johanson's debut album, year of our Lord 1996, is vemod. In Swedish, it means melancholy. It mercilessly invades the six tracks of the record. An essential debut, barely 36 minutes long. But there's everything. Even the fabric of a crooner, the love for jazz, for easy-listening, for jagged geometries, for tutelary deities like Chet Baker, Serge Gainsbourg, Scott Walker. Not just Beth Gibbons and company, mind you.

It starts with the scratch of a doleful "It Hurts Me So," then continues with the lively "So Tell the Girls that I am Back in Town," the masterfully brushed drums of "The Girl I Love is Gone," the depths of "I'm Older Now," practically a track divided into three parts, the last of which winks at a disorienting country-western atmosphere. "I Fantasize of You" is perhaps the apotheosis of "Whiskey," a sweet yet highly captivating ballad, probably the most enchanting of the lot, followed by the meditative strokes of "Mana Mana Mana Mana."

Love songs, often desperate, sealed by a deep and extremely sexy voice. An electrifying debut, allowing Jay-Jay Johanson to join the club of cult artists. Beautiful albums will follow, like "Tatoo," the successor to "Whiskey," and others that are less convincing, but the level will always be more than appreciable. He will descend upon our lands next January 7th, at the visionary cinema of Udine, for his only Italian date of the European tour, COVID permitting. Tell the girls he's back in town.