The music of charming Swede, Jens Lekman, is like a warm reassuring hug. You may think you’re hard and independent enough to live without it but, if you snub it, your day will be all the poorer .
If, on the other hand, if you open your heart to his quirky romantic vision, his tales of kisses, heartaches and hairdressers will put a smile on your face and a spring in your step.
His new album (Night Falls Over Kortedala) begins with an orchestral swell of ‘And I Remember Every Kiss’ which is so over the top it makes Neil Young’s ‘A Man Needs A Maid’ sound understated.
The 11 breezy, melodic songs that follow reveal that ,when it comes to love, Lens (pronounced Yens) is a hard man to please: “I would never kiss anyone, who doesn’t burn me like the sun” he pronounces on the opening track and later he declares “I am leaving you because I don’t love you enough”. He is not one for half measures.
His voice gives the impression that he is permanently on the brink of tears and these melo-dramatized autobiographical tales have the faux-naif quality that calls to mind the likes of Jonathan Richman and Herman Dune. Up to a point he is as serious as your life but then again you suspect there’s a tongue in cheek there too.
If you can switch your cynical side to standby there’s plenty here to delight in.
