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.

Founder of Slut Island Festival and @lipevents
ヅ
Bookings: heyfrankieteardrop@gmail.com
// dates in the future//
Dec 7: Le Systeme
Dec 14: Sala Rossa: w Pelada 
Dec 20: Star Bar
Dec 21: ESC

// dates in the past //
JUNE 10: LOT RADIO (NYC)
NOV 11: BOILER ROOM MTL
OCT 29: NORMIE CORP
OCT 28: Village Studios
OCT 28: DRILL
JUL 8: Basscoast Festival
JUN 25: Piknic Electronik
JUN 24: Datcha
APR 15: The Cobalt Vancouver
FEB 5: Daydreams (Melbourne)
FEB 1: Music Room / Skylab (Melbourne) 
DEC 23: CAR FANCY
JUNE 23: CHIMBITES/SUONI PER IL POPOLO
JUNE 18: DATCHA
JUNE 17: SHIFT RADIO
JUNE 16: STEREO BAR
JUNE 11: DOLLY
JUNE 4: HOT NEW LESBIAN PARTY @ EAST SIDE STUDIOS
JUNE 2: FABRIQUE SAINT GEORGES
MAR 11: NORMIE CORP
DEC 18: BIMBOSUMMIT & THANKS 
OCT 29: NIGHTMARE ON CARRAL STREET
AUG 15, 2021: DOLLY DISCO
APRIL 10: CLUB QUARANTINE/HOT CRIP/LIP 9PM EST
MAR 21: S.M.I.L.E
FEB 29: VAULT: UNLOCKED FESTIVAL
FEB 21: MEXICO CITY
FEB 29: VAULT MTL
FEB 18: LIP @ RESONANCE (Mtl)
FEB 20: MUY MUY in CDMX
DEC 31: LIP @ RED GATE
DEC 20: LIP @ DOLLY
NOV 22: LIP @ Clubhouse
NOV 15: Sync & Babelink (Dolly, Vancouver)
OCT 26: LIP @ KATACOMBES
OCT 19: LO RES
SEPT 21: EQUINOX NEVER APART
SEPT 13: @ La Plante
SEPT 6: LIP TORONTO
AUG 30: LIP IBIZA
AUG 17: OSTBAHNHOF LOS ANGELES
AUG 3: BACKDOOR VANCOUVER PRIDE
AUG 2: LIP VANCOUVER PRIDE
JUL 14: PIKNIC ELECTRONIK
JUL 6: VAULT X CYBERIA 
JUN 29: GRINDHER
JUN 28: NDQ TOP 40
JUN 22: NANO MUTEK PRIDE TORONTO
JUN 15: HOMEHARVEST
MAY 25: UNIKORN
MAY 24: KING PRINCESS & FRANKIE TEARDROP @ Corona Theatre
MAR 30: UNIKORN
MAR 22: LIP TORONTO CLUB120
MAR 15: IN THE DARK, NYC
MAR 9: LOPEZ_MTL
MAR 8: HOUSE PARTY
MAR 7: ELLAS BAR
MAR 2: CENTRE PHI W PELADA
MAR 1: LIP
FEB 23: N10.AS
FEB 21: DATCHA
FEB 19: N10.AS
JAN 25 - LIP 
DEC 31 - HOTLINE
DEC 29 - INDEED VICTORIA
DEC 28 - LIP VANCOUVER
DEC 15 - HOUSE WERQ
NOV 23 - LIP @ La Sotterenea
NOV 6 - Home Harvest w Ciel
OCT 26 - Berlin
SEPT 21 - datcha
JUNE 2 - at sotterenea
JUNE 1 - FTA mtl w empress, tati au miel, jupiter brown
MAY 10 - artgang w noncompliant/djshiva, dj name, heidy p 
APR 27 - 00:AM Pub Club w CC djs
APR 13 - le ritz w riobamba 
MAR 30 - artgang w tygapaw
MAR 26 - datcha w aurora halal 
MAR 3 - le Ritz
FEB 22 - datcha
JAN 19 - igloofest
DEC 16 - artgang
NOV 25 - nomad
SEP 30 - lip
SEP 23 - homodrop at datcha
SEP 8 - concordia university 
SEP 8 - motorkiller at sala rosa 
JUN 24 - smiling buddha - toronto
JUN 16 - playhouse
JUN 9 - discwoman, Cousins, LIP, Intersessions at Mural Fest
MAY 21 - babes on babes - vancouver
MAY 19 - backdoor - vancouver
MAY 6 - lip -le ritz 
APR 29 - Technofeminism - new york

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