was in 1996 that Jay-Jay Johanson, a young man from a cold climate, fascinated by the Bristol sound they called trip-hop and Portishead in particular, first tapped delicately on our eardrums.
The intoxicating album that definitively put this rare and elegant Swede on the map was called Whiskey. It was the beginning of an enthralling adventure. In only a few songs he revealed a family tree that spread its roots far and wide: on one branch Lee Hazlewood, or pop from Talk Talk or Nilsson, on the other John Coltrane with Johnny Hartman, and a whole army of calm jazz or symphonic
recordings sampled from everywhere imaginable.
Almost 20 years later he has returned with an
incredible new album. This new release is called Opium and it contains the very essence of Johanson’s music: an ease with inventing melodies, a voice that gently caresses, and the jacked up, heady rhythms that lift and carry the songs. From the peaceful harmonica opening of Drowsy / Too Young To Say Good Night to the smoke-wreathed love song I Don’t Know Much About Loving, via titles with a sporadic and light groove (NDE, Alone Too Long), Opium is a courageous offering. Johanson opens his heart with
fearlessness and modesty, gracefully lowering his guard and evoking the questions that torment men of his age: love, solitude, immaturity. The songwriting is unerring, the words have a suppressed poetry. This
new Johanson is the work of a guy who has survived the avalanches, who is no longer looking for answers and is content to sketch out the perspectives in as many songs. Some titles are serious (Harakiri), but others immediately take up the reins casting a more
gentle, peaceful light, like Scarecrow, a collaboration with Robin Guthrie that would not have sounded out of place on a Cocteau Twins album, or of the strange positivity of Be Yourself or I Love Him So.
The strength of Opium is that it asks questions that don’t necessarily have an answer; it offers a collection of songs freed from any certitude but which convince
through their modesty, through their precision.
In short, Jay-Jay at his best.

Live & recorded mysteries spun into melodies to soothe my heart and bless your ears.

Dancing In The Dark Video: https://youtu.be/Aq1Lhr6Fzu4

CONTACT:
hello@mischadreamfolk.com

MGMT
info@qprime.com

BOOKINGS
Live: dave.galea@unitedtalent.com
DJ: darren@fmly.agency

BRAVERHALF // SOLO ACT // LOS ANGELES, CA

Shop SPACE ISLAND Merch & Vinyl: https://linktr.ee/broodsmusic

The fourth full-length from BROODS, Space Island is an exploration of grief and all its many dimensions. In keeping with the New Zealand-bred duo’s unfettered imagination—an element they’ve brought to multiple platinum-and gold-certified records so far—the album’s 10 tracks exist in a surprisingly radiant sonic realm, its aesthetic equally inspired by ’60s sci-fi B-movies and the balmy exotica of composers like Les Baxter.The most high-concept output yet from BROODS—a ten-time New Zealand Music Award-winning act who’ve amassed over a billion streams to date, collaborated with the likes of Lorde and Tove Lo, toured with HAIM and Taylor Swift, and taken the stage at major festivals such asCoachella and Lollapalooza—Space Island came to life during a period of serious upheaval for lead vocalist Georgia Nott. Having married at the age of 21, she went through a difficult divorce soon after the release of BROODS’ previous album Don’t Feed the Pop Monster(a 2019 effort that led to appearances on“Late Night with Seth Meyers” and“The Late Late Show with James Corden”). As Georgia turned to songwriting as a means of processing her grief, she and her brother/bandmate Caleb Nott discovered an unlikely but wholly fitting vessel for that emotional outpouring: the album’s gorgeous constellation of otherworldly beats, swooning guitar tones, and effervescent synth lines. As a result, Space Island introduces a dazzling new intensity into BROODS’ atmospheric indie-pop while providing a powerful conduit for catharsis. 

MANAGEMENT:
Slush Management - Neal O'Connor / Sam Luria

BOOKINGS:
THE AMERICAS - mhayes@apa-agency.com
AUSTRALIA / ASIA - swald@wmeentertainment.com
NEW ZEALAND - reuben@banishedmusic.com

Anura Demons is following