Jens Lekman

One of my favorite songwriters in recent memory has been Jens Lekman. A friend from high school and I usually have a tradition whenever we meet back in California for holidays and family functions where we buy each other a record that we feel is either important or has been overlooked by the other, as though owning it will inspire careful listening. A couple of years ago, he bought me Jens Lekman's You Are The Light EP, which I wasn't terribly fond of mostly due to the fact that he didn't explain what was going on with the music. Lekman's songs require a proper preface. When I heard 'You Are The Light' for the first time, it sounded like a television show theme void of any meaning or substance. I have since grown to enjoy the single as a great favorite, if not only for its ridiculous grandeur.

The sample-heavy melodic numbers are all equally odd in their own right. He focuses on the song (much like the Smiths) rather than following a sort of cohesive theme rendering his records pretty uneven. However, the fact that they're uneven simply contributes to their charm. His lyrics are generally very tongue-in-cheek and are at times entirely hilarious. Case in point is the unreleased Christmas single from his October of 2005 US Tour EP, 'Run Away With Me', in which he refers to the song's recipent as a lover of her 'mommy', but 'she's so empty' and as thus is worthy of abandonment this Christmas Eve. To be honest, it sounds to me initially like something that would be played during the thrilling conclusion of Home Alone after the old creepy man saves Macaulay Culkin from Joe Pesci and the other guy. It's a great song that would have been right at home on Lekman's stunning 'Oh You're So Silent Jens' collection of singles, but alas, you receive it here.

Run Away With Me by Jens Lekman