Gothenburg Belongs To Me

Blame JJ: One man's plan to find love, meaning and a really cool job in Sweden

Lying on the floor of my apartment, the music of Swedish duo JJ gently washes over my bruised and battered psyche like a cool summer night breeze. Sadly, there are no gauzy pictures of the lovely and cherubic singer Elin Kastlander on either of their two albums covers for me to ogle (I've kindly provided one above). Instead, JJ Nº2 features a blue silk-screened marijuana leaf, splattered with what appears to be blood. There’s also a dreamy, druggy version of Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop,” entitled “Ecstasy,” that I can't stop spinning. Hm.

By the time I get to JJ Nº3 and the opening track “My Life,” (a somber, piano-powered reading of yet another Lil Wayne song), it hits me: I need to move to Sweden.

It’s not just JJ. The city of Gothenburg boasts Air France, who I freaking adore. There’s the Tough Alliance, who also run the Sincerely Yours record label that releases records by all of the above.

JJ and Air France both remind me of all-time favorites Saint Etienne a lot. There’s that subtle blend of pastoral with electronics, which gets me every time. But there’s an especially ethereal mood to the sounds coming out of Gothenburg right now. Something very particular and unique bleeds through all of it. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume it has something to do with location (Gothenburg is Sweden’s big college town). It's beautiful, with the Göta älv river running through the middle of it.

The most cursory research on Sweden has turned up all sorts of fun facts. The country was at the forefront of the sexual revolution back in the day, with the term “Swedish Sin” becoming synonymous with free-spirited (hence “perverted”) sex once upon a time.

For fans of the Nordic look, the people are stunningly beautiful. There is lots of blond hair, blue eyes and white teeth running around the place. I’m fully equal opportunity when it comes to pretty women, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit a special fondness for fresh-faced Swedish girls.

And it's not all blonds. There's is diversity in Sweden, too. I hear there's an influx of Middle Eastern people there. And have you ever seen Yukimi Nagano, the singer for Swedish band Little Dragon? Born and raised in Gothenburg, btw. Rawrr X 10000*

There’s a big music festival in Sweden called Hultsfred (named after the city where it’s held). It’s a three-day affair that’s much like Coachella, except instead of being in the deserts of California, it’s on a lake in Sweden. They had some issues last year, due to what was considered a sub-par line-up resulting in poor ticket sales. I’m thinking that I can move to Gothenburg, eventually finding my way to Hultsfred, where I’ll score a job booking for the festival. I will of course wrangle an insane line-up of awesome acts. The rest of the year I can write and travel the country, in an aggressive pursuit of, well, you know, her. Yeah, her.

Anyway, I’ve gotta go renew my passport.

Drömmar slutändan aldrig*