JJ Debut at SXSW, Chew Gum to Celebrate

Last year, Swedish duo JJ were relatively unknowns until critics freaked out over their lush pop debut, 'jj no. 2.' So, for their SXSW debut, all eyes and many, many camera flashes were on these two, well, actually one. In the studio, jj consists of Joakim Benon taking programming and compositional duties and vocalist Elin Kastlander, who'll pick up the occasional guitar. So for their live show, Benon sets up a laptop on the side of the stage, hits play on a program and then just chills. Kastlander on the other hand, sits front and center.

And sit there she does. Resembling a mixture of Debbie Harry and Kimya Dawson, Kastlander's stage presence was an odd, jarring thing to watch. Her vocals were spot on, but this half of JJ doesn't seem quite ready for all this newfound interest in her. She chugs beer during song breaks while chewing gum. She buries her face in her hands, often, and at one point, looked so uncomfortable, it seemed as if she was starting to cry. Mostly though, for whatever reason, it just looked like she had a horrible case of stage fright and would've rather been anywhere else at that moment.

Still, she did manage to run through the upbeat pop of 'Let's Go' from 'jj no. 3,' their recently released sophomore album as well as a somewhat charming version of 'Masterplan' from 'jj no. 2.' But as the preprogrammed music was coming to the end of its cycle -- a cycle she knows well at this point -- only then did she crack a smile that wasn't so much of joy but relief.

It's a SXSW lesson: sometimes those bands you really want to see might not really want to see you seeing them. Or maybe computers can't substitute for just bringing a band along in some instances. At least with that notion, the audience's need to stare directly at you would be eliminated.