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Sounds of Sweden
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March 01, 21:00
Sixteen Tons 
The Sounds of Sweden in Sixteen Tons is going to introduce a number of the most promising and interesting Swedish performers to the Moscow public. The concert program features melancholic singer Jay-Jay Johanson, multifaced Loney, Dear and facsinating Promise & the Monster.
Jay-Jay Johanson
 Swedish blond, smokeyeyed, sophisticated and stylish singer and songwriter Jay-Jay Johanson was born in Trollhättan, October 11, 1969. He started composing already as a teenager, but it wasn’t until August 1996 that he released his first album, "Whiskey" at Break My Heart Studios in Stockholm. The instant success of this debut album, characterized by its jazzy vocals over trippy, noir arrangements, set Jay-Jay off on his first of many world tours. After "Whiskey" featuring hits like "It Hurts Me So" and "So Tell The Girls That I Am Back In Town", Johanson released “Tattoo” in 1998, the first step in his music’s evolution towards a more richly textured, poetic ambience, represented by the compositions "Milan Madrid Chicago Paris", "Even In The Darkest Hour" and "She’s Mine But I’m Not Hers". In April 2000, "Poison" followed, featuring contributions from The Cocteau Twins founder and guitarist Robin Guthrie, and went straight into the French chart at number four. The album was darker and more depressive, frustration was sometimes heard in Jay-Jay’s voice. Year 2004 marked the release of a compilation, “Prologue”, which made for an excellent introduction to most of Johanson’s material in USA. The next step in Jay-Jay’s career was the album "Rush" from 2005, an album partly produced by the French House genius J-P Ensuque. January 2007 saw the release of "The Long Term Physical Effects Are Not Yet Known", even more seductive and startlingly eclectic than any of his prior work. The album was generally acclaimed as his finest ever, featuring such great singles as"She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore" and the mesmerizing "Rocks In Pockets". The singer's latest albums "Spellbound", "Self-Portrait", "The Long Term Physical Effects Are Not Yet Known" show that Jay-Jay is back to the sensual style of his earlier years. His songs today are somewhere in between Francis Lai and Portishea. His sophisticated trip-hop is characterized by his unique melancholic tenderness and beauty, impossible to resist. More info
Loney, Dear
 Swedish Multi-instrumentalist and home-recording phenom Emil Svanangen releases records and plays shows under the somewhat inscrutable name of Loney, Dear. In either his tiny Stockholm studio apartment or the basement of his parents’ house, and with a dedication bordering upon manic, Emil discreetly builds Loney, Dear songs using a modest home studio set-up. In this way he has recorded and then released himself on CD-R four albums in the last two or three years. He has managed to sell several thousand of these, pretty much on his own. The music of Loney, Dear has been aptly described as, "soulful indie folk with a powerful mini orchestra". Layer upon layer, adding instrumentation and vocals, these songs seem to bloom like time-lapse photography, depicting glimpsed scenes of modern disaffection and timeless yearning. When performing live, Loney, Dear becomes the band Emil conjures alone in his home studio, and mutates into a full, five-member band complete with guitar, sax, drums, organ and clarinet, shouts and claps. Loney, Noir is the most recently recorded Loney, Dear album. It is at once effervescent and resigned, exhilarating and melancholy, joyous and confessional. More info
Promise and the Monster
 Promise and the Monster is the moniker of Billie Lindahl, a singer-songwriter from Uppsala/Stockholm, Sweden who has made her rounds in twee pop (Carmine St.) and post-rock (Shore for Shelters). The debut EP Antarktis hit the music stores in summer 2007. The debut full-lenght album titled "Transparent Knives" was released on September 19, 2007 on Imperial Recordings. Today a Swedish Manifest Awards winner, Promise and the Monster possess a unique style of her own. Her music has two sides, both light and dark, sensitive and frail. Billie's special voice in combination with great guitar enchants the listener, making him feel as if he were in some kind of dream. More info
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