Jens Lekman

From the opening string swells of "And I Remember Every Kiss," the timpani-drunk first track on Jens Lekman's second album, Night Falls Over Kortedala, it's clear that the Swedish singer-songwriter-producer with the sweet, guileless baritone has finally taken up full-time residence in his imaginary world. When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog and singles collection Oh You're So Silent Jens contained hints of the sample-forward approach he hones on Kortedala, but they still retained the opaque air of a well-arranged pop album.

Kortedala pushes Jens' underrated production skills to their limits, making transparent the dusty, forgotten record snippets that make up much of his songs' instrumentation. The result is a melancholic, '50s-tinged homage to Jens' home base, the "depressing suburban hell" of Gothenberg, Sweden's Kortedala neighborhood, an ode to home and heartache by one of the finest sad-eyed crooners since Stephin Merrit.

Though few individual songs reach the heights of older singles like "Black Cab" or "Maple Leaves," Kortedala makes up in unity what it lacks in individual accomplishments. The aforementioned opening track is a killer, an orgy of booming orchestral flareups (samples all—most via old recordings of violinist Enoch Light), with Jens emoting, "I would never kiss anyone / who doesn't burn me like the sun," a statement that would seem overly grandiose were it not paired with such appropriately over-the-top sentimentalism. From there, the record traverses the stylistic map, dabbling in conga-drum disco on "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar," bouncy quasi-R&B on "A Postcard to Nina" and sun-dappled folk pop on the instant classic "Shirin."

Perhaps due to its insular production methods (Jens barely left the house while working), perhaps due to its intent-driven, vaguely electronic elements, Kortedala feels like the embodiment of a singular inner world, resulting in the sort of album one has to listen to straight through rather than hitting all the "key tracks." It's to Jens' credit that Kortedala has few barn-burning standouts—with a consistency level this high, he's got plenty of time for hit singles.

—Todd Goldstein
10.12.07

Nothing on Jens Lekman's second album does anything to change the fact that he's a true pop music genius. Night Falls Over Kortadela is witty, pretty, silly, and wise; and filled with instantly memorable melodies, thrilling moments of surprise in the arrangements, and laugh-out-loud lyrics. As always, he draws from a wide range of musical influences, mixing in deft samples from sources as varied as Renaldo & the Loaf and fellow Swedes the Tough Alliance, and always sounding like a guy who is head over heels in love with music. This love translates into the joyous atmosphere that spills over the record like candy from a piñata as he leaps from disco-fied love songs (the blissful "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar") to doo wop-meets-hip-hop ballads ("Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig"), from orchestral declarations of devotion ("And I Remember Every Kiss," with orchestra on loan from Enoch Light) to delightfully ramshackle rockers ("Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo"). Lekman mixes and matches sounds and genres like the world's most adept DJ, coming up with practically his own style in the process. It's hard to think of another artist who so gracefully blends the acoustic with the electric, the real with the fake. Lyrically Lekman sticks mostly to love, finding it, losing it, sacrificing for it (his story of being his friend's boyfriend to fool her father on "A Postcard to Nina" provides the album's lyrical highlights), but most of all believing in it wholeheartedly. He also shows his talent for capturing the small moments of life -- whether it's cutting the tip of your finger off while slicing avocados ("Your Arms Around Me") or worrying about your little sister ("The Opposite of Hallelujah") -- hasn't dimmed at all. Jens Lekman is a craftsman, a showman, and a magician all wrapped up into one tuneful bundle of joy, and Night Falls Over Kortadela is his best album. It'll have you walking in the clouds before the first song is half over and have you filled with happiness for days afterward. What more could you ask for? ~ Tim Sendra, All Music Guide