JJULIUS - VOL. 1

Hot on the heels of the 2021-stealing Ormens Vag comes the long player debut from JJ Ulius, one half of Monokultur and co-organiser (is that the right term?) of the label Mammas Mysterika Jukebox. It's tricky - and likely pointless - to try to understand Vol. 1 outside of those contexts. The collaboration with Loopsel's Elin Engstrom in Monokultur has produced a unique and, at times, alien-style of music making that speaks most obviously to the benefits of collaboration, but Vol. 1 is not too many steps removed from the sounds they make together. What going alone allows is for JJ to engage his more idiosyncratic impulses, and these songs are defined mostly by their unconventional shape, wandering down unexpected paths led by a bass line, or a vocal melody, or some incongruent sample. We've talked a lot about the Gothenburg scene from which this music originates, but Vol. 1 mostly reflects a wider European tradition of DIY inventiveness, and the darkened, artfully adorned corners of this collection mostly remind me of any one of the Les Disques du Crepuscule compilations from the 80s - yes, there's only one voice here, but it's one guided by a rich imagination and a receptive ear, which has resulted in a fractured set of songs both subtle and varied, dreamy and abrasive, rewarding anew with each listen. So remind me, when are we allowed to travel to Sweden again?