Jay-Jay Johanson

PPA production: Agnieszka Imiela-Sikora

Musicians: Jay-Jay Johanson, Erik Janssson, Fredrik Wennerlund

A trip-hop voice in your living room (straight from Sweden, sweet Sweden).
A melancholic vocalist and sensitive poet, creator of jazz-tinged melodies — soft and fragile, stretched between electronic coolness, emotional distance, and late-night intimacy. In Götaland, where he comes from, summers are not always cloudy, but winters are long, cold, snowy, and windy. You can hear it in the music.

Jay-Jay Johanson built his musical home thirty years ago — and has no intention of moving out, even if he occasionally travels to other aesthetic regions. His debut album “Whiskey” was a response to the slow-burning trip-hop revolution emerging from industrial, fume-filled Bristol. Yet it was also a deeply personal creation, perfectly suited to the nature of this classically, almost academically trained Scandinavian vocalist.

“Backstage” is Jay-Jay’s fifteenth album. A mature work, shaped by vast experience and untouched by creative fatigue. Reflective in tone, it unfolds patiently from song to song. The title itself is meaningful: the artist does not invite the listener onto the stage — where nothing can be hidden — but behind the scenes. After all, what we admire most comes from what remains unseen.

Photo. Fredrik Wennerlund