JJ

The Swedish duo of Elin Kastlander and Joakim Benon, jj emerged on Gothenburg's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Sincerely+Yours+Records%22">Sincerely Yours Records</a> in 2009, with a particularly gratifying take on the musical preoccupations common to much of the label's roster. Their neo-Balearic indie pop filters <a href="spotify:artist:0jHgg7rmAGl9qLcHHId2Cq">Air France</a>'s tropical haze, <a href="spotify:artist:4ps52NgTUPV9accMr5TMBw">the Tough Alliance</a>'s penchant for slyly irreverent appropriation, and <a href="spotify:artist:7stOK0dSbsAeUyv8OxCeuh">the Honeydrips</a>' fragile twee pop melodicism into a beguilingly lush, gently electronic style reminiscent of prime <a href="spotify:artist:1N2FgBLehaq77UEdJhCt7f">Saint Etienne</a> with a smoother, beachier sheen. They also had a strong hip-hop influence running through their sound, as evidenced by their using elements of <a href="spotify:artist:55Aa2cqylxrFIXC767Z865">Lil Wayne</a>'s "Lollipop" on their song "Ecstasy," as well as their covers of songs by <a href="spotify:artist:4OBJLual30L7gRl5UkeRcT">T.I.</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6DPYiyq5kWVQS4RGwxzPC7">Dr. Dre</a>, and others (most notably on their 2010 Kills mixtape.) jj also initially shared their labelmates' propensity for mystery, favoring an artfully enigmatic presentation that engendered near-complete Internet silence concerning the group's identity and back-story, but the female vocalist (who was initially identified only as "Elin") provided a distinguishing sonic hallmark in the form of her warm, lusciously smooth alto. Their first pair of releases, the sequentially titled 7" jj Nº 1 and debut album jj Nº 2, appeared in spring 2009. After a move to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Secretly+Canadian%22">Secretly Canadian</a> stateside, jj's third album, jj Nº 3, was released in March 2010. Collaborations with rappers <a href="spotify:artist:21E3waRsmPlU7jZsS13rcj">Ne-Yo</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0W6Vi3JrMz1BtEOUqG2mcG">Don Trip</a> surfaced in 2011, alongside a remix with fellow Swede Yves Saint Lorentz of <a href="spotify:artist:6rgEPiKjowlMKZC1DF6W75">Rebecca & Fiona</a>'s single "Bullets." The group's fourth official release, a two-song single titled jj Nº 4, surfaced in 2012, as did the High Summer EP. While the duo remained reasonably quiet for most of 2013, with their only release a collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:5kp9Qhzri9LrDkzrtjt5Sh">Adrian Lux</a> on the song "Wild Child," they returned in August of 2014 with V, their third and most direct-sounding album to date. ~ K. Ross Hoffman & Rich Wilson, Rovi