@ Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, November 1
by Andrew Clayman
Published in The Scene (Cleveland), October 2007
While his melancholy brand of string and sample laden indie-pop has garnered comparisons to Stephin Merritt and Belle & Sebastian, Swedish export Jens Lekman seems more inclined to align himself with the late James Brown.
“I do consider myself the hardest working man in showbiz,” he says, and now that the Godfather himself has left us, Lekman just might have an argument.
After a year and a half of non-stop touring, recording, and re-recording, the 26 year-old’s long delayed, third full-length, Night Falls Over Kortedala, finally arrived in America in October. It’s an epic and elegant affair, ripe with Lekman’s trademark combination of gushing romanticism, offbeat humor, and wall-of-sound sensibilities. More than anything, though, it’s that fine balance between heartbreak and light-heartedness that has kept Lekman on a fast track to crossover success.
“That’s something I’ve always carried with me,” Lekman says. “But early on, I was comically retarded. Every time I tried to make people laugh, they would cry. And every time I would try to make people think something very serious, they would laugh.”
These days, Lekman’s highly personal songs often manage to elicit both responses at once. Meanwhile, for his own entertainment, Lekman claims he’s become fascinated by the legions of fans that have started impersonating him online ever since he shut down his official Myspace page last spring.
“It’s really beautiful,” he laughs. “all the Jens Lekman clones. It’s like an army of me, doing their own things and coming up with their own ideas. I love it!”
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