#7- Jens Lekman- Night Falls Over Kortedala

2007

Jens Lekman is a good time. Born in the city of Angered, Sweden, this Scandinavian churned out a good set of songs on Night Falls Over Kortedala. Built on doo-wop/soul samples and garnished with poppy guitar strums and funky bass lines, this album may have been well released a few decades back.

Lekman's lyrics have a wit sharper than his jawline and a tone rounder than his giant forehead. Often singing about petty relationship issues in a melodramatic, yet humorous self-deprecating manner, his songs make it easy to hate him just as much as you might hate yourself. His lyrics are relevant, simple, and personal:

i have a love

i have a love for this world,
a kind of love that will break my heart
a kind of love that reconstructs and remodels the past
that adds a dryness to the dry august grass
that adds the sunshine to the magnifying glass
and makes me fight for something that cant last

(from "Into Eternity")

Jens' soft voice over the elaborate songs provide a nice warming balance to the ear. I find that whenever I come to the point of being sick of everything I have on my iTunes and Jason Bentley is just not cuttin it, NFOK hits the spot and makes everything refreshingly new. This album is the cure to Los Angeles traffic stress. Have a good time in the car, sing out loud, relate to songs about silly and tender things. Also, try to catch him live in his many forms... sometimes solo with a guitar and a boombox, sometimes with a full quartet and choir.

Sidenote: Jens grew sick of Sweden and moved as far as he could from it. He now resides in Melbourne, Australia. He also caught H1N1 during his South American tour last June.