How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
jj
"jj n° 3"
3 stars
"I'm just wonderin' why you haven't taken my life, what the hell am I doing right?" sings jj's Joakim Benon in "My Life," the opening track to the Swedish duo's second full-length album, "jj n° 3." And right after that, he gently rolls into an echoed-out rendition of ATC's one-hit-wonder, "Around the World (La La La La La)." It's an incongruous transition — from the brooding to the wonderfully trite — but the lyrics hardly matter when filtered though the shiny whimsy of Benon's voice.
Beyond the album's opener, most tracks have etches of tropicalia carried over from "jj n° 2." Tracks like "And Now" and "Let Go" feature shakers, lightly picked guitars and synth lines that could make a snowman pine for the beaches of Majorca. There's a clear influence here from fellow Gothenburgers Air France, who, along with jj, are often grouped into the umbrella of "neo-Balearic indie pop."
Still, jj shows a wider range of influences here, namely ATC and other turn-of-the-millennium Europop acts as well as some '80s synthpop. "Into the Light," for instance, features a dark guitar lick funneled through a chorus effect that could sit comfortably on New Order's 1983 album "Power, Corruption & Lies."
"jj n° 3" starts out delicate and graceful with a handful of truly beautiful tunes, soon offset by ravaging Europop. (Remember why that never caught on in the U.S.? It was annoying as hell.) The album is saved by its brevity, clocking in at just over 27 minutes. Sift through the grating europop and you've got a nice selection of tracks to fuel your fantasy spring break trip to a beach of eternal sun.
