2008 Woodie Awards
Review: Jens Lekman
Indie singer/songwriter bares some Swede emotion on his best batch of tunes yet
Billy Kalb
Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Diversions
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Jens Lekman obsesses over the everyday. "I saw on TV about this little kid/ Who had a pig for a pet," the singer/songwriter Swede announces near the end of Night Falls on Kortedala, his latest release for Secretly Canadian Records. "His mom had once been attacked by a dog/ So a pig was the closest thing he could get." The song, "Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig," isn't really about a boy and his pig, but rather, as Lekman reveals, a guy and his girl: "This has of course nothing to do with anything," he hastily confesses - "I just get so nervous when I'm talking to you."
Lekman continues in his impressive tradition of turning commonplace activities into life-changing events throughout Kortedala, his second full-length album (not counting 2005's Oh You're So Silent Jens, a collection of scattered EPs and singles). Love songs begin in the kitchen while slicing avocados and end in the emergency room with a severed index finger; breakup songs result in soon-to-be ex-lovers reaching for asthma inhalers. The album, named for Lekman's "depressing surburban hell" of a hometown, keeps things firmly in the routine - one of the most romantic tracks on the record, "Shirin," is about getting a haircut, even if it's one from an Iraqi emigrant in an unlicensed hair salon.
Far from dull, however, Lekman infuses his storytelling with vivid detail and sets it against a backdrop of vintage AM radio gold: Opening track "And I Remember Every Kiss" soars like a film score from the golden age of Hollywood; album closer "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo" could have been the theme music from Happy Days. The songs make extensive use of horns, strings and harp strums, sounds built from Lekman's remarkably cohesive grasp of sampling techniques - combined with occasional keyboards and programmed drums (a new addition to Lekman's playbook for this album) the result takes the schlock-pop of Tom Jones and Barry Manilow and connects it to the forward-looking sonic constructions of The Avalanches and DJ Shadow.
Lekman continues in his impressive tradition of turning commonplace activities into life-changing events throughout Kortedala, his second full-length album (not counting 2005's Oh You're So Silent Jens, a collection of scattered EPs and singles). Love songs begin in the kitchen while slicing avocados and end in the emergency room with a severed index finger; breakup songs result in soon-to-be ex-lovers reaching for asthma inhalers. The album, named for Lekman's "depressing surburban hell" of a hometown, keeps things firmly in the routine - one of the most romantic tracks on the record, "Shirin," is about getting a haircut, even if it's one from an Iraqi emigrant in an unlicensed hair salon.
Far from dull, however, Lekman infuses his storytelling with vivid detail and sets it against a backdrop of vintage AM radio gold: Opening track "And I Remember Every Kiss" soars like a film score from the golden age of Hollywood; album closer "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo" could have been the theme music from Happy Days. The songs make extensive use of horns, strings and harp strums, sounds built from Lekman's remarkably cohesive grasp of sampling techniques - combined with occasional keyboards and programmed drums (a new addition to Lekman's playbook for this album) the result takes the schlock-pop of Tom Jones and Barry Manilow and connects it to the forward-looking sonic constructions of The Avalanches and DJ Shadow.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Diana Zurawski
posted 11/03/07 @ 5:10 PM CST
I was so glad to finally learn once and for all how to pronounce dear Jens' name. Great review; how wonderful to know there is another Lekman fan on this campus!
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