NW Reviews: jj – nº 3
Pronounced “Number 3″, jj’s newest nº 3 is a mixed bag. Although there is one bright light at the end of the tunnel: jj is a zillion times better than The xx.
Their freshman album, nº 2, was a major hit with many. At first, I couldn’t sit through it. But soon thereafter it grew on me and is a nice playlist buffer alongside Efterklang and Sigur Ros. After being fashioned into jj’s sound, this new album of theirs was definitely easy to digest. The plus side to the album isn’t that it was easily nice to listen to for a listener like myself but rather it’s just a nice album to listen to regardless.
The album itself seems more of a positive step for jj in various ways. Firstly, the album itself is a very soon-thereafter release, as their first album only debuted last July. Not even a year later, jj has submitted a completely new set of songs. Many times this happens, the band wants to get out of some sort of label contract… but in this case, their sophomore album in nº 3 is actually a great set of songs. Their selection of songs on this album is more along the lines of “Things will never be the same again” rather than their cult club hit in “Ecstacy”.
It’s better than The xx. All joking aside, I really have no idea how The xx had a better showing than jj. In fact, I believe that The xx, if they released an albums worth of songs today, would be a let down. Unlike jj, I don’t believe The xx will be relevant. jj’s feel seems more fresh. It’s like the indie-Swedish version of the 90s Enya. The xx is just the indie-British version of 90s sadness. To jj’s advantage, they will best many of the experimental indie-pop this year with this album.
As I started this review off, the album is a mixed bag. At times, brilliant. At other times, lacking. The words “experimental” never seemed more true than this album… the thoughts of song writing seemed to be along the lines of, “Hm, will this work? I guess other people will have to be the judge of that.” In other words, they really seemed to include things in their songs, may it be melodies or harmonies, that were off. That’s the experimental jamb though. A work in progress in song form. In my opinion, this album will be a great staple in the ever-growing experimental pop community, but as far as the big picture of the entire scene goes, this might be overshadowed by the fast-growing renaissance of post-rock. I guess the competition is on.
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People who will like this album: people who want something that sounds like The xx but doesn’t suck, people who want the indie version of Enya. Others who would like this: people who hate post-rock’s 2010 revival and want something that will counter it.
Although a mix of good and bad, it’s generally good. However, that’s where the recommendation ends. Enjoy this album, but the potential of overplaying it and/or getting sick of it is somewhat higher than others. But until then, enjoy it.
p.s. for those interested in what “Ecstacy” sounds like… here’s a video of it!
