Jay-Jay Johanson > Reviews (1)

First i have to thank a million the ciao team that created so soon the link for jay-jay johanson when i asked for it.
Secondly please don't look at the picture of jay-jay that the team choose because he is really ugly on it , he took this weird look for the cover of his last album but he is actually a gorgeous thin blond guy so please check google if you want a better picture of him.

Ok now let's go who is Jay-jay ???

Jay-jay Johanson is a Swedish artist; his music is a mix of jazz, hip-hop, trip hop with sometimes a zest of electronic music. He is kind of a Nordic elf fell on earth but dreaming of other places that only him knows. Thanks to his music he brings us in better places where you wish you could stay.

Let’s have a quick look at his Biography

Jay-jay Johanson (initially it was Jäje) was born in Trölatten ( Sweden) in 1969, he grew up in Skara a small town. He has always lived in a musical atmosphere, as since his early years there was music all around him. His sister was an ABBA’s fan, his mother preferred Elvis and his father wasn’t able to live without Jazz.
Thanks to his father Jay-jay discovered Chett Backer, Scott Walter and other huge Jazzmen. However Jay-jay loved contradiction and at first he preferred hard-rock to anything else, the first disc he bought was Kiss, he was then 6 years old.

At 7 he entered the musical school of Skara where he learned the piano, the Saxophone and the clarinet. He early began to compose his own music.
Aged of 10 he created his own punk band called May tuck their songs where recipes or comics texts sing on the music they composed.

When he is 15 he finally falls into jazz, he takes part of a jazz band with his father and pays more and more attention to jazzmen and their work.
After high school he goes to Stockholm to study architecture and modern art during this period he enters a jazz quartet and compose intensively. When he lives his quartet he adds electronic rhythms and synthesizer so as to give to his jazz composition a hip-hip style.

When he leaves the Art school the label BMG that produced his 4 albums contacts him.His work:

Jay-jay writes his songs during his loneliness period, he says that he is indeed unable to write songs when he is dating someone. Consequently most of his songs are cold and sometimes frightening but humour suddenly may pop in the middle of a melancholic composition.
Jay jay’s work is often surprising and may make you feel sad but that’s always a great treat for ears and mind.

Jay-jay Johanson made 4 albums:

- Whiskey

This first album is launched in 1996 it expresses melancholia and a bit of sadness. Most of the songs are slow and jay-jay’s voice is put on the first place. His amazing voice is underlined by beautiful melodies of every kind; instrumental parts are mixed with drum and bass rhythms, jazz and even country style for some songs. The result is a surprising but seducing album.

-Tattoo

This second album is made in 1998 most of the compositions are much more jazzy than for the first album but there to his voice came first too.

It’s really easy to follow this voice and to let you float on it. Jay-jay brings us in the snowy and windy landscapes of Sweden but his songs are so beautiful that you wish you could stay there in spite of cold snow wind and sadness you feel strangely calm and satisfied as if you were living in a little bubble where nothing could hurt you.

-Poison:

This third album is a bit different from the 2 others cause for this album he worked with a whole orchestra. This album is more dark and cold than the 2 previous were. Jay-jay indeed inspired of Alfred Hitchcock movies to compose the songs of this album. This frightening atmosphere result of the style of the songs of course but the cover is also implied. On the cover Jay-jay stands with a crow behind is the photography of a wood at night and the figure of a man appears in the headlight of a car.
The songs speak of suffering of guilt of betrayal. Here the voice becomes almost hypnotising and haunting.

- Antenna

Last album made by Jay in 2002 a bit more experimental for the instrumental parts but still full of tremendous lyrics. Jay jay left his former producer to make this album but no worry his work is still great and centred on his amazing sad voice.

Jay-jay also composed the soundtrack of the movie “ La confusion des genres” but I’m sorry to say that I haven’t listen to it for the while but I promise I’ll do it as soon as I can to complete this opinion.

And finally why do I love jay-jay’s music:

Jay-jay is unique in his kind; no other artist can make me feel the way he does.

Well I’m sure you’ll agree with me but sometimes life is harsh with you and jay-jay’s music has always been a great help for me in such period. Instead of pulling me more down than I am it helps me to be a bit better.
More over that even if you were the happiest guy on earth I think that this music will seduce you because it’s made of tremendous soundtracks underlying an amazing voice.

The themes that Jay-jay presents in his work have to touch everyone as they are common to everyone and the fact that this guy literally open his mind and show you his sadness can’t let you cold, empty of emotion.
On the contrary I’m sure that everyone’s first think when he listen to jay-jay’s music is the will that the music never ends, personally I have this paradoxical feeling each time I listen to his music as even if the lyrics are so sad there’s such a huge beauty and tenderness coming from it that I just don’t want it to stop.

Now the thing I’d really love is to see Jay-jay is concert but for the while there’s no tour programmed.

As a conclusion I have to say that if you get the occasion to listen to a jay-jay Johanson album please do because this artist is quite unknown and he really deserved to be more listened.

Thank you so much for reading.

Mary