Spring Break
Jens' music only getting better
The Swedish artist's latest album, Night Falls Over Kortedala, combines multiple pop genres.
by Daniel Orkin
Music | 9/4/07
Posted online at 9:31 PM EST on 9/10/07
What distinguishes Jens Lekman from his indie pop contemporaries is his ability to convey multiple meanings with each song. Jens (that's with a soft J) has an uncanny knack for both lyrical sincerity and self-deprecating irony. His musical textures draw on the cheesiest elements of pop's past, resting on a solid foundation of catchy hooks and lush arrangements. With his new release, Night Falls Over Kortedala, this Swedish troubadour continues on his streak of nearly flawless albums that are quickly launching him to the top of critics' lists around the world, and into the evolving canon of the indie genre.
Kortedala follows 2004's dreamy When I Said I Wanted to be Your Dog and 2005's Oh You're So Silent Jens, a retrospective collection of previously released EPs containing such unreasonably catchy tunes as "Black Cab" and "Maple Leaves." Kortedala continues to show Lekman's mastery of style, using his indulgently sweet voice to weave melodic stories of suburban youth and love. The titular Kortedala refers to the Göteburg suburb where Lekman grew up. His narratives are straightforward, all centering on the regrets, yearnings and trials of a kindhearted hopeless romantic. With song titles like "And I Remember Every Kiss" and "If I Could Cry (It Would Feel Like This)," it's not hard to deduce a strong thematic thread in Lekman's music.
With this album, Lekman ventures further into the influence of pop's past, jumping from style to style, with bigger arrangements and sounds. "And I Remember Every Kiss" opens the album with a timpani roll followed by light strings, building to a monstrous crescendo of a chorus, evoking the melodramatic crooning of the late '50s. The wild, synthetic rhythms and horns on the second track, "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar," channel the worst of late '70s disco music. Furthering the album's kaleidoscopic influences, the album's closing song, "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo," with its bouncy tempo and sax presence, sounds like something that might play on the jukebox at Arnold's on the sitcom Happy Days.
Kortedala follows 2004's dreamy When I Said I Wanted to be Your Dog and 2005's Oh You're So Silent Jens, a retrospective collection of previously released EPs containing such unreasonably catchy tunes as "Black Cab" and "Maple Leaves." Kortedala continues to show Lekman's mastery of style, using his indulgently sweet voice to weave melodic stories of suburban youth and love. The titular Kortedala refers to the Göteburg suburb where Lekman grew up. His narratives are straightforward, all centering on the regrets, yearnings and trials of a kindhearted hopeless romantic. With song titles like "And I Remember Every Kiss" and "If I Could Cry (It Would Feel Like This)," it's not hard to deduce a strong thematic thread in Lekman's music.
With this album, Lekman ventures further into the influence of pop's past, jumping from style to style, with bigger arrangements and sounds. "And I Remember Every Kiss" opens the album with a timpani roll followed by light strings, building to a monstrous crescendo of a chorus, evoking the melodramatic crooning of the late '50s. The wild, synthetic rhythms and horns on the second track, "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar," channel the worst of late '70s disco music. Furthering the album's kaleidoscopic influences, the album's closing song, "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo," with its bouncy tempo and sax presence, sounds like something that might play on the jukebox at Arnold's on the sitcom Happy Days.
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