Jens Lekman

Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Canadian)

If 2005’s Oh You’re So Silent Jens sounded confused, Jens Lekman would like you to know he’s grown as a person. Cue orchestral, late-Sixties Scott Walker opener “And I Remember Every Kiss,” and listen to him croon, the Swede’s rich verse about becoming a soldier (“You get a gun, and you name it after a girlfriend”) delivered flat yet honest, like obvious hero Jonathan Richman. On his third LP, Lekman adds the banalities of his neighborhood, Kortedala, to more arranged sounds, hinging on a story-within-a-story: A kitchen accident with a knife turns into a disco love song (“Your Arms Around Me”); he pretends to be a gay friend’s boyfriend to fool her father (“A Postcard to Nina”), as boppy horns and doo-waps punctuate the slapstick (“Hey, you, stop kicking my legs. I’m doing my best; can you pass the figs?”). He’s still a little corny in parts, but it’s outweighed by the genuinely sincere. (Jens Lekman courts the Parish Nov. 14.)

***

This article appears in Richard Suttle.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US