"Is Jens Lekman for real? Funnily enough, it's the very intensity of the Swedish singer-songwriter's earnestness that raises the question. Even when grounded in autobiography, his stories are gaudily and perhaps implausibly embroidered. His music is delectable, but in the way of an absurdly fancy galette that looks almost too good to eat. Even for the sweetest tooth, it can be an acquired taste: Piling his pastry with the most sumptuous orchestral toppings, then adding thick dollops of syrupy crooning, he comes on strong."
"But it's a taste that, once acquired, can't easily be sated-that lacquered fruit, that heavy cream, those sharp observations curlicued in frosting. It might actually be an anti-taste: uncoolly garrulous, glorying in chintz, scoffing at moderation. Mariachi horns, beatnik spoken-word interludes, Disney movie piano themes, soothing spa flutes, smoldering Sergio saxophones, country boot scoots, theme-park medieval motifs, and strings splashing everywhere in champagne-glass towers: There is nothing Lekman won't try to wring a few more drops out of the oldest subject."
Jens Lekman's companion album is a sprawling, exuberant romance built from vivid storytelling, absurdist humor, and theatrical orchestration. Lekman's earnest, autobiographical songs are elaborately embroidered and sometimes feel extravagantly ornate, combining lush strings, mariachi horns, spa flutes, saxophones, and playful motifs. The music piles orchestral toppings and syrupy crooning into a deliberately excessive, acquired taste that revels in chintz and rejects moderation. Instrumental pastiches and beatnik interludes mingle with country twangs and theme-park motifs, all focused on love as a central subject. The album mixes truth and fiction into a singular, one-of-a-kind pop experience.
#jens-lekman #songs-for-other-peoples-weddings #orchestral-pop #romantic-storytelling #eclectic-instrumentation
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