Jjulius - Vol.2

Is this Gothenburg's Rubicon moment? Well, if the name fits... In a move approximately no-one saw coming, Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox have partnered with DFA (yes, that very same) to release this second volume of recordings from Monokultur's JJulius. I'm mostly surprised because i didn't even know DFA was still in operation, let alone were switched on enough to dial straight into the *2023* zeitgeist. The eyes widen at the thought of what worldwide distribution might do for this previously hermetic enclave... Still, let's not get entangled in the logistics, there's some predictably very good music to bend your ear around first. Where Monokultur ends and JJulius begins remains unclear, but the answer might simply be personnel. Though this carries the artist's name and suggests a solo record, there's a wider cast of contributing musicians involved on Vol. 2, JJulius' vision now augmented to varying degrees by sax, trumpet, synths, organ and live drums. The monochrome austerity of Vol. 1 has been mostly supplanted by an unexpected odd pop instinct, less 4AD-derived shadowplay and more of the melodic/rhythmic subversion you might connect with the Wire offspring of Dome, Cupol and AC Marias, or a Holger Czukay solo record. Doesn't that sound great? Still all sung in Swedish, it's as hard as ever to parse the precise ideas being communicated, though such music lends itself well to obfuscation - show, never tell. DFA may be pushing Gothenburg out to a wider audience, but it'll be sometime before there's a box neat enough to fit it in.