JJ
V
SECRETLY CANADIAN
5/10
Grouped in with the mid-aughts’ European indie-revival of Ibizan Balearic beat, Swedish duo JJ (née jj) made a splash with 2009’s faded, sublime jj no 2—thanks, in no small part to a dynamic re-working of Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” (with whale song and dolphin chatter samples, no less). Guess what drug, indeed. On their fifth release (and third LP), V, Joakim Benon and Elin Kastlander withdraw into darker, more nebulous corners. The moods are rocky due to lyrics and production that consistently cannot find even footing. The music hits some nice points, though aiming for epicness far out of reach, but the lyrics are enduringly uneven and uncomplimentary. “Fågelsängen,” in particular, is a mess of lazy writing and rhyming (“I need you / I don’t need you / Oh, no / I’ve never said, ‘Oh no, I need you’ / Oh oh oh oh oh”). At least a few of the graduates of the “Maybe–Baby” School of Rhyming manage to string together coherent lyrical narratives, but not here. Come back into the sun, JJ, the weather’s nice.
