The perennially mysterious Swedish duo JJ (it's all caps now) is set to issue V, their latest collection of hazy Balearic dance-pop, on August 19th, and today they've made the wait a little easier with a dreamy new single called "Dean & Me." Like a number of their most affecting tracks, this one offers a startling disconnect between downcast lyrics and buoyant instrumentals. After opening the track with some twisted vocalizations, singer Elin Kastlander offers a salutation more worthy of "Marvin's Room" than the sort of soaring pop music that the duo has crafted here. When she offers lines like I know I'm drunk/ I know it's late/ But I will call you anyway, she's presumably pretty sad, but the rest of the song sounds more like ecstasy than brokenhearted-ness. It's just more of what JJ do best, somehow getting at joy and disaffection at exactly the same time.
Stream: JJ, "Dean & Me"