Jens LekmanNight Falls Over Kortedala
Secretly Canadian
It may be named for the neighborhood in which it was recorded, but Jens Lekman’s third album isn’t an homage to Kortedala so much as it is an escape hatch from the miserable Swedish suburbia that exists there. Or at the least that’s the explanation from Lekman himself, the wistful 26 year-old at the forefront of Gothenburg’s indie-pop revival.
In truth, there are far more American pop touchstones to be found in Night Falls Over Kortedala than Swedish ones—from the Motown beat of “The Opposite of Hallelujah” and the Scott Walker grandeur of “And I Remember Every Kiss,” to the Happy Days jukebox sound of “Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo.” As has come to be his calling card, Lekman creates a sense of warmth and intimacy around an assortment of ghostly orchestral samples and obscure, vinyl pop clippings. At the mic, he continues to inhabit the likable role of the deadpan romantic—like Jonathan Richman and Stephin Merritt before him-- skillfully toeing the line between melodrama (“I would never kiss anyone who doesn’t burn me like the sun”) and silliness (“We could start a little farm, with little white bunnies, because watching them copulate is very funny”).
Though he’s become a megastar in Sweden, Lekman had decided to leave Kortedala and the rest of the country behind after his current tour, making Night Falls a rather epic farewell to his homeland, and a very gratifying salute to pop music everywhere-- as it was and could be again.
(Andrew Clayman)
Published in The Metro Pulse, November 2007
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