{"title":"Jens Lekman","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"jens-lekman-the-cherry-trees-are-still-in-blossom","title":"The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe reissue of \"Oh You're So Silent, Jens\".\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“All my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands,” speaks Jens Lekman, casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father’s old cassette recorder, and an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers. “I’m going to sound like Scott Walker. But I’m going to do it in my bedroom.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWorks of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure fleamarket vinyl records with by turns burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg – Lekman’s early songs come from a different time, a different place. An era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAfter initially finding an audience through peer-to-peer file sharing sites, Lekman signed to Secretly Canadian Records in 2003, and went on to release a slew of cherished material, including three cult limited-edition EPs – Maple Leaves, Rocky Dennis and Julie – later collected on the 2005 compilation album Oh You’re So Silent Jens. His DIY fantasias found their fullest and most celebrated form in 2007 on his second album proper, the exquisite Night Falls Over Kortedala – Lekman’s self-professed “dream record”. It went to number one in Sweden and was later hailed as one of the 200 best albums of the 2000s by Pitchfork, as well as one of the top 100 albums of the 21st century so far by The Guardian.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNow, like Oh You’re So Silent Jens, it no longer exists in its original form.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOh You’re So Silent Jens enigmatically disappeared in 2011; Night Falls Over Kortedala followed suit in early 2022. Lekman’s impulse for giving old music fresh life and context has led him to remake the records under new names, each delicately positioned in dialogue with the past – the same albums, just different. The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom and The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn The Cherry Trees, two of Lekman’s best-loved early breakout singles are completely reimagined – ‘Maple Leaves’ as a tender ballad burnished with warm strings; tragi-comic illegal taxi ride to oblivion ‘Black Cab’ in two different versions, a handsome full band pop song and a gentle acoustic lullaby. The Linden Trees repackages all the true-life tales, magic, and mystery of Night Falls for a new age, yet in wholly familiar form, from the joyous ‘The Opposite of Hallelujah’ to hilariously uplifting missive ‘A Postcard to Nina’ and open-hearted love-song ‘Your Arms Around Me’.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTaken together, the new albums form a sort of belated farewell to Lekman’s formative days as a bedroom Scott Walker, panning for sample gold in stacks of vintage vinyl. Albeit not a farewell to the original albums themselves, which will live on in fans’ record collections, and perhaps illicit corners of the internet. Spread to the wind.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I feel like these new records are like portals that can lead you to the old records if you want,” Lekman reflects. “I think that they can lead you to another time and a place, where you could work with music in a different way.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44536213209251,"sku":"SC388cd","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP Black Vinyl 2xLP","offer_id":44536213242019,"sku":"SC388lp","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP Baby Pink 2xLP Vinyl","offer_id":44536213471395,"sku":"SC388lp-C1","price":30.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Bundle 2XLP + Shirt Bundle - SM","offer_id":44536213274787,"sku":"SC389xbnd01-USM","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Bundle 2XLP + Shirt Bundle - MD","offer_id":44536213307555,"sku":"SC389xbnd01-UMD","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Bundle 2XLP + Shirt Bundle - LG","offer_id":44536213340323,"sku":"SC389xbnd01-ULG","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Bundle 2XLP + Shirt Bundle - UXL","offer_id":44536213373091,"sku":"SC389xbnd01-UXL","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Bundle 2XLP + Shirt Bundle - UXXL","offer_id":44536213405859,"sku":"SC389xbnd01-UXXL","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Bundle 2XLP + Shirt Bundle - UXXXL","offer_id":44536213438627,"sku":"SC389xbnd01-UXXXL","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/sc388.mock.cd.1.jpg?v=1753370777"},{"product_id":"an-argument-with-myself-jens-lekman","title":"An Argument With Myself","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the symbology of Lekman's songbook, motion is a means to stave off insanity or succumb to it and the songs on \"An Argument With Myself\" EP deal with many types of movement, both big and small, from why he moved to Melbourne to the societal change\/movement in his old hometown of Gothenburg to simple map directions.  The opening song and title track begins with this excellent Jens archetype, recounting an inner battle while walking home through the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. While on its face, \"Waiting For Kirsten\" seems to trace an ultimately futile odyssey to track down Kirsten Dunst while she films in Gothenburg, its really an attempt to work out the complex relationship one has with one's hometown. The comfort and disappoint of what's changed, and what seems to never change. Alternately, the horn driven \"New Directions\" brings a slightly manic roadmap of directions to any place but here and any time but now. The songs are witty, literal, and impeccably location-specific, and they're all heading somewhere as a means to either go crazy or keep from doing so. With more fractured textures that combine horns, flutes, string swells and arpeggiated guitars, the opening of  the EP finds Jens in constant state of transition, musically, as well. However, as \"An Argument With Myself\" comes to a close the arrangements get looser, more reggae-tinged and relaxed, like a music box winding down. For a moment, the motion almost stops. For now.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"Picture Disc","offer_id":44536152424611,"sku":"SC211pic","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12\"","offer_id":44536152457379,"sku":"SC211lp","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CDEP","offer_id":44536152490147,"sku":"SC211cd","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/an-argument-with-myself-secretly-canadian-sc211.jpg?v=1776690564"},{"product_id":"correspondence-jens-lekman-annika-norlin","title":"Correspondence","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAfter completing his previous projects Postcards (where he wrote 52 songs in 52 weeks) and Ghostwriting (where he offered his songwriting to tell other peoples stories), Jens Lekman came up with a new idea. He asked fellow Swedish songwriter Annika Norlin (Hello Saferide, Säkert!) to join him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe idea was that throughout the year of 2018, the two of them would correspond through music. Each month, one of them would write a song and the next month, the other one would reply.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e'Correspondence' gave Jens and Annika an outlet for more spontaneous ideas, and they decided to stay under the radar by only releasing the songs on the Correspondence website, and a Spotify playlist. Most of the time they forgot that anyone else could hear the songs, and they turned out very personal. But looking back at 2018, maybe most of the personal things they wrote about – exhaustion, longing for human connection, harassment, climate change anxiety – summed up 2018 at a larger level as well.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe songs are now available on vinyl.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman \u0026 Annika Norlin","offers":[{"title":"Society Edition (2xLP) Translucent yellow vinyl","offer_id":44536162353315,"sku":"SC370lp-C1","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP Black Vinyl","offer_id":44536162386083,"sku":"SC370lp","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/sc370.lp.jpg?v=1776690367"},{"product_id":"i-know-what-love-isnt-jens-lekman","title":"I Know What Love Isn't","description":"\u003cp\u003eJens Lekman will release a new album, I Know What Love Isn't , on September 4 on Secretly Canadian. The album is his first full length in 5 years, following the critically acclaimed Night Falls Over Kortedala .  The album came out of a break up which isn't a new story. He fell in love and it didn't work out. It borrows sparingly from the vast and colorful palette of sounds he created on Kortedala. I Know What Love Isn't has strings but not a string section, an upright piano not grand, a single saxophone, gracenotes from a flute, a lot of tambourine. Combined in exact proportions with Lekman's melancholy abstract lyrics, the songs evoke the classic sound of the Brill Building in it's heyday.  Lekman is a storyteller of the highest caliber, letting his delicate vignettes unfold to show the wonder that lies in the mundane. That's what I Know What Love Isn't … is. A collection of songs that grew to a story that had to be told. A story that is not new, but essentially human. The story of the grey areas of love t25hat you have to excavate and explore, using the method of exclusion, to find out what love is.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44536178475171,"sku":"SC225cd","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP","offer_id":44536178507939,"sku":"SC225lp","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/i-know-what-love-isnt-secretly-canadian-sc225.jpg?v=1776690007"},{"product_id":"i-know-what-love-isnt-bw-thats-the-way-love-is-jens-lekman","title":"I Know What Love Isn't b\/w That's The Way Love Is","description":"\u003cp\u003eLimited edition 7\" from Jens Lekman featuring the title track of his new album, I Know What Love Isn't, and an exclusive b-side cover of Ten City's \"That's The Way Love Is\".\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"7\"","offer_id":44536178540707,"sku":"SCSPEC21lp","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"jens-lekman-tour-songbook","title":"Jens Lekman Miniature Art Songbook","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSong book containing chords and vocal melody for nine songs by Jens Lekman.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSelf released by Jens Lekman, 2022\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSize: 9x12 inches\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDesign by Alexander Palmestål\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIllustrations by Linnéa Andersson\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTranscriptions by Matt Nowlin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"Songbook","offer_id":44536181489827,"sku":"SC389-Songbook","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/jenslekman.songbook.mock_5B39_5D.png?v=1776689948"},{"product_id":"jens-lekman-the-linden-trees-are-still-in-blossom","title":"The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom","description":"\u003cem\u003eThe reissue of \"Night Falls Over Kortedala\".\u003c\/em\u003e\n\n\n\n“All my friends were playing in these bass-guitar-drum bands,” speaks Jens Lekman, casting his mind back over twenty years to his first rudimentary experiments with sampling using his father’s old cassette recorder, and an instinct to create music that would set him far apart from his Swedish pop peers. “I’m going to sound like Scott Walker. But I’m going to do it in my bedroom.” \n\n \n\nWorks of sweeping, maximalist, orchestral wonder sung in a sumptuous tenor, weaving lifts from obscure fleamarket vinyl records with by turns burningly romantic and mordantly funny true-life tales from the sleepy-shadowy suburbs of Gothenburg – Lekman’s early songs come from a different time, a different place. An era when the internet was young, limitless and disruptive, sample culture was turning music inside out, and anything felt possible.\n\n \n\nAfter initially finding an audience through peer-to-peer file sharing sites, Lekman signed to Secretly Canadian Records in 2003, and went on to release a slew of cherished material, including three cult limited-edition EPs – Maple Leaves, Rocky Dennis and Julie – later collected on the 2005 compilation album Oh You’re So Silent Jens. His DIY fantasias found their fullest and most celebrated form in 2007 on his second album proper, the exquisite Night Falls Over Kortedala – Lekman’s self-professed “dream record”. It went to number one in Sweden and was later hailed as one of the 200 best albums of the 2000s by Pitchfork, as well as one of the top 100 albums of the 21st century so far by The Guardian. \n\n \n\nNow, like Oh You’re So Silent Jens, it no longer exists in its original form. \n\n \n\nOh You’re So Silent Jens enigmatically disappeared in 2011; Night Falls Over Kortedala followed suit in early 2022. Lekman’s impulse for giving old music fresh life and context has led him to remake the records under new names, each delicately positioned in dialogue with the past – the same albums, just different. The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom and The Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom are a pair of lovingly and painstakingly assembled reduxes each keeping the same core tracklisting, spirit and source material as the originals, but blending brand new versions of some tracks, in part or in whole, together with many tracks left largely as they were. Both records are fleshed out with rare, previously unreleased, and even previously unfinished old songs, as well as other contemporaneous material such as cassette diaries.\n\n \n\nOn The Cherry Trees, two of Lekman’s best-loved early breakout singles are completely reimagined – ‘Maple Leaves’ as a tender ballad burnished with warm strings; tragi-comic illegal taxi ride to oblivion ‘Black Cab’ in two different versions, a handsome full band pop song and a gentle acoustic lullaby. The Linden Trees repackages all the true-life tales, magic, and mystery of Night Falls for a new age, yet in wholly familiar form, from the joyous ‘The Opposite of Hallelujah’ to hilariously uplifting missive ‘A Postcard to Nina’ and open-hearted love-song ‘Your Arms Around Me’. \n\n \n\nTaken together, the new albums form a sort of belated farewell to Lekman’s formative days as a bedroom Scott Walker, panning for sample gold in stacks of vintage vinyl. Albeit not a farewell to the original albums themselves, which will live on in fans’ record collections, and perhaps illicit corners of the internet. Spread to the wind.\n\n \n\n“I feel like these new records are like portals that can lead you to the old records if you want,” Lekman reflects. “I think that they can lead you to another time and a place, where you could work with music in a different way.”","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"CD The Linden Trees Are Still In Bl","offer_id":44536215371939,"sku":"SC389cd","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP Black Vinyl 2xLP The Linden Tree","offer_id":44536215404707,"sku":"SC389lp","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP Crystal Clear 2xLP Vinyl","offer_id":44536215437475,"sku":"SC389lp-C1","price":31.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/sc389.mock.lp-c1.1.jpg?v=1755106119"},{"product_id":"when-i-said-i-wanted-to-be-your-dog-jens-lekman-sc25","title":"When I Said I Wanted to be Your Dog","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e*Secretly Canadian's 25th Anniversary limited edition color vinyl with exclusive anniversary cover art + obi*\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e*Includes a 12x12 print and essay celebrating the artist and album, exclusively for direct orders*\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJens Lekman's songs are each so different stylistically, each a classic in its own way. He employs each of the following as central features in his songs: horn sections, string sections, a capella singing, steel drums, piano balladry, and mandolin. Lekman is a young pop crooner from Sweden. Eyes bright, heart wide open, he's become an overnight sensation with his home recorded magic and fantastic lyrics. It's hard to believe that he is only 23 here. He could as well be playing Las Vegas. His timeless elegance makes the big, beautiful suburban pop songs sound like they're already classics. With an angelic voice and golden ears he seems to be drinking from the same hard waters as the Carpenters, Harry Nilsson, the Magnetic Fields, Smog, the Modern Lovers and Belle \u0026amp; Sebastian.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"LP Opaque Green","offer_id":44536226218147,"sku":"SC107lp-C1","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/sc25.lp.jens.a-web.jpg?v=1776689107"},{"product_id":"life-will-see-you-now-jens-lekman","title":"Life Will See You Now","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJens Lekman describes his new record playfully, but also honestly, as “a thirties-crisis disco album; it’s an existentialist record, about seeing the consequences of your choices”. Across three studio albums, the Swedish singer\/songwriter and musician has proven not only his flair for telling very personal stories with a sharp self-awareness, but also his skill for balancing depth of emotional expression with droll and often self-deprecating detail. It’s a winning pop combination.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHis fourth, Life Will See You Now is a typical Lekman album in several ways: sly humour is key to its heartfelt nature; it inverts pop’s writing norm by making songs with sad concerns sound happy and songs with a happy subject sound sad; and it plays with notions of identity and the self. Life Will See You Now is expansive, the upbeat sound of a revitalised Lekman, who is just one of many characters in his new stories about the magic and messiness of different kinds of relationships. It’s also the result of deliberate steps he took to create this fresh sound.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlthough Lekman is present in all of the songs on Life Will See You Now, it’s sometimes as a listener or spectator, rather than solely as the central active figure. Male characters get more of the spotlight than before. Lekman’s previous records have been female-centric, “I wanted to see what would happen if I wrote about men. It was inspiring at first, but writing about masculinity went down a very dark path. And there was a sadness that was very real; I had trouble finding stories that weren’t horribly depressing” he admits. “How Can I Tell Him” is one of a few songs saved from that shelved plan, a touching ode to male friendship that addresses the behavioural boundaries drawn around expressions of intimacy for generations of men.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnother big choice was a decision to experiment with different kinds of rhythms – disco, calypso, samba and bossa nova all get a bespoke twirl in the spotlight – and so he called on producer Ewan Pearson (M83, The Chemical Brothers, Goldfrapp) to help realise his new songs. “I was looking for something more rhythmical. That was just what was intriguing me at the time – how you structure rhythms and build changes and time signatures. For me, not being trained in music, to learn a few of the tricks was very fascinating.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe alluringly offbeat lilt of “Our First Fight” is a perfect example of this subtle shift. More obviously upbeat are “What’s That Perfume That You Wear?”, which features a steel pans sample from Ralph MacDonald’s “The Path” of 1978 – “one of my favourite records ever,” enthuses Lekman – “To Know Your Mission”, whose jaunty, sing-along chorus belies its serious subject (self-doubt and indecision versus self-belief and faith) and the irresistibly buoyant “How We Met, The Long Version”, a disco-pop cracker with strings and piano that samples Jackie Stoudemire’s 1983 track, “Don’t Stop Dancin’”.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe writing of Life Will See You Now was somewhat of an attempt to overcome periods of self-doubt, a process helped by Lekman’s two interim projects – Postcards, in which he committed himself to writing and releasing one song every single week in 2015 and Ghostwriting, where he asked other people for their stories and wrote songs around them, rather than his own experiences. “There was a part of me that was really sick of this Jens Lekman character,” he confesses, “and I wanted to write myself out of my songs. “ Jens laughs: “After I did the Ghostwriting project I was able to let that go, and also realized how important it is to be in your own songs to be able to communicate an emotion.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt may be very much inspired by stories told to him by friends and random acquaintances, but for Lekman, Life Will See You Now is still “a very personal record”. In “To Know Your Mission”, the perky Euro-pop number set in August of 1997 that pictures him – or at least, a character called Jens – as a teenager contemplating his future, one line that’s particularly pertinent to his ideas about this singer\/songwriter business stands out. “In a world of mouths, I want to be an ear,” croons Lekman, sweetly. “If there’s a purpose to this, then that’s why God put me here.” It’s not a statement of religious belief, just a simple recognition of what he was in some way called to do. Life Will See You Now proves how right he was to listen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44673915912355,"sku":"SC339cd","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP Black Vinyl","offer_id":44673915945123,"sku":"SC339lp","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Cassette","offer_id":44673915977891,"sku":"SC339cass","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Secretly Society Ruby Red Vinyl","offer_id":44673916010659,"sku":"SC339lp-C2","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/sc339-cassette-mockup-380.jpg?v=1776688926"},{"product_id":"night-falls-over-kortedala-jens-lekman","title":"Night Falls Over Kortedala","description":"\u003cem\u003eSunrise September 5, 2007 - Sunset March 21, 2022\u003c\/em\u003e\n\n\n\nJens Lekman opens Night Falls Over Kortedala with the sure step of an artist in complete command of his creative self. Imbued with epic grandeur, \"And I Remember Every Kiss\" fades in with a melancholy timpani roll, a stirring string section and Jens crooning with every wistful bone in his body.  After the first verse, the strings passionately swell into a wall of sound and - with one gravity-defying pass-through - Jens delivers his death blow to cynicism by declaring, \"And I would never kiss anyone \/ Who doesn't burn me like the sun \/ And I remember every kiss like my first kiss;\" illustrating just why many consider him one of the most important of the hopeful broken hearts coming of age in contemporary music. Like a modern day Chet Baker, Jens absolutely loves to sing about heartache. On \"Sipping On The Sweet Nectar\", Jens introduces a dance beat to his string, horn \u0026amp; croon combo. And it only gets bigger from there with the tableside backbeat of \"Opposite of Hallelujah\" to the live favorite \"A Postcard To Nina\", and the slender hooks of \"I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You\" to the Frankie Valli purity of \"Shirin\" - an epic ode to Jens' barber which is reminiscent of a Mexican folk ballad. Jens arduously labored over the songs on Night Falls Over Kortedala over the last three years between relentless tours (which ranged from full blown 8-piece ensembles to just Jens alone with a ukelele at the mic). Kortedala refers to a neighborhood in Jens' hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, where his studio Koredala Beauty Center is located. It also refers to a vague musical pop sound with hints of tropicalia that has been coming out of Gothenburg's clubs over the last few years. Having more in common with Paul Simon's Graceland, Jens' latest is a response to more than an engagement in today's Kortedala music of his Swedish peers. An exercise in insularity, Night Falls Over Kortedala has achieved its specific sound not from going out but from Jens staying in and coming to grips with the sounds he had in his head, or as he said, \"from the sound of my own voice reverberating off my home's old '50s brick walls, from the ghosts of everyone who's lived here before me clapping along with their little ecto-plasm hands. My record basically never leaves the 30 square meters that I live on until the very last song when i take a short bus ride to the countryside in 'Friday Night at the Drive-in Bingo'.\" Night Falls Over Kortedala features Jens friendlies Frida Hyvönen and El Perro Del Mar.","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44673918599331,"sku":"SC160cd","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":44673918632099,"sku":"SC160lp","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP Opaque Sky Blue","offer_id":44673918664867,"sku":"SC160lp-C1","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/sc160.lp.ss.jpg?v=1769601245"},{"product_id":"when-i-said-i-wanted-to-be-your-dog-jens-lekman","title":"When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog","description":"\u003cp\u003eCall it a curse. Jens Lekman's is a world populated by an endless stream of women. But not just any sort of women. No, these are the sort of women that inspire the most joyous of heartbreak in your mild-mannered crooner. There he is: hair mussed \u0026amp;  glasses off-kilter, sitting in the corner of the cafe with his journal bookmarked once again; like Truffaut's The Man Who Loved Women, Jens Lekman is a man forever at a crossroads between competing inspirations. Some of the women have names (Silvia, Lisa, Julie, Maria); some don't (the chili cook in The Cold Swedish Winter, the bread baker in the title track, the make out artist in A Higher Power, for example). It's all part of Lekman's story. He loves to fixate on inspiration and has a special gift for not only finding it, but spreading it. His songs are each so different stylistically, each a classic in its own way. He employs each of the following as central features in his songs: horn sections, string sections, a capella singing, steel drums, piano balladry, and mandolin. Lekman is a young pop crooner from Göteborg, Sweden. Eyes bright, heart wide open, he's become an overnight sensation with his home recorded magic and fantastic lyrics. It's hard to believe that he is only 23. He could as well be playing Las Vegas. His timeless elegance makes the big, beautiful suburban pop songs sound like they're already classics. Which they are. He recently hit #2 on the Swedish national pop  charts for the title track to this EP. Most everyone who's heard him believes him to be the next great pop star emerging from the streets of the DIY underground. With an angelic voice and golden ears he seems to be drinking from the same hard waters as the Carpenters, Harry Nilsson, the Magnetic Fields, Smog, the Modern Lovers and Belle \u0026amp; Sebastian.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":44673926955171,"sku":"SC107lp","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":44673926987939,"sku":"SC107cd","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/when-i-said-i-wanted-to-be-your-dog-secretly-canadian-sc107.jpg?v=1776688806"},{"product_id":"jens-lekman-other-peoples-wedding","title":"Songs for Other People's Weddings","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eJens Lekman is an accidental wedding singer. But he’s also a wedding singer for a reason.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eOur story starts with a track from his first album, 2004’s\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhen I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog\u003c\/em\u003e. “If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding)” makes an offer to the listener; since Jens knows “every stupid love song that ever touched your heart,” he’s happy to perform at your wedding. Why? Because he’s “just so amazed to witness true love.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eJens says now, “It was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but people took it very seriously and started asking me to actually play at their weddings. Which I did happily; it was an honor. In the 2010s, when streaming made it harder to make a living from music, the wedding gigs became a way to get by financially, and also gave new meaning to music itself.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eAs a wedding singer, Jens has a particular vantage point from which to see the role love songs can play in our lives. The songwriter’s feelings (ecstasy, agony, or any point in between) are put into the song, and then the performer adds their own feelings, and these become the feelings that are amplified within the listener as they listen. Songs help us experience our emotions as bigger than us. So at a wedding, the newly married couple uses music to universalize their romance so it can be shared with everyone else in the room.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eFor two decades, the wedding gigs have taken Jens both close to home and around the world. He’s witnessed joyous moments, high anxiety, delirious dancefloor antics, and more than a few mishaps. Sometimes he’s performed at weddings when his own heart was full . . . and other times he witnessed the couple’s happiness at a cool remove, because love songs can have that effect, too, making you feel left out when you’re missing someone or painfully lonely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThis would make an interesting narrative,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eJens thought.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eWhich is, I suppose, where I come in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eI’m a novelist with an interest in love songs, and Jens and I have corresponded ever since I got in touch with him in 2005, after listening to his album on repeat while writing a book. I wanted to thank him for the soundtrack. We kept in touch over the years, and shortly before the pandemic, he approached me with the idea for a novel about an indie musician who plays weddings. I was intrigued. To make it a true collaboration, I suggested we add a twist: that the wedding singer writes an original song for each couple, based on a conversation with them about their love (which Jens had done before, but not for every wedding.) Half the chapters of the book would be written with me telling the story of the wedding first and Jens having to supply the couple’s song after.  The other half would start with Jens giving me a song, and then me having to come up with the story that led to the song.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThis became our novel-with-songs,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSongs for Other People’s Weddings\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eIt is the story of the wedding singer (J), his girlfriend of two years (V), and the things that happen within their relationship when she moves to New York without him. While some of the wedding details are from Jens’s experiences, J is not Jens, and V is not anyone specific. Still, their relationship contains many observations about love that Jens and I have gathered over the years, as both participants and observers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eWhich leads to this album.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe plan had always been to record an album, and we’d assumed it would contain the ten songs from the ten chapters in the book. But the more the story between J and V grew, the more we realized it would be absent to the album listeners who hadn’t read the book. So Jens began to explore the idea of an album that would retell their story from a musical angle, abandoning the third-person narrative of the novel to go straight into the characters’ hearts and minds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eSays Jens, “The idea to make a narrative concept album (a rock opera?) felt forbidden. Which for me is usually a sign that I’m on the right path. While investigating the genre of narrative concept albums, I realized that one of my all-time favorite albums, Frank Sinatra's Watertown, was in fact just that— a record that told a chronological story over the length of an LP. Having never been a fan of musicals or rock operas, this album served as inspiration.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e“I wrote the album while the book was still being written and at some points I started imagining what happened between the book’s chapters. The book and the album eventually became intertwined but also found their own paths. The book provided the structure of the story, but the album sometimes snuck behind the scenes. Stories from the songs made their way into the book and vice versa.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe album changes musically as J navigates his relationship with V, with each new wedding providing its own sonic background. We hear pastoral strings as J ponders what’s at stake outside a church wedding, and dreamy pop as he and V hit a good stretch. A soft jazzy saxophone comments in the background as he interviews a couple in a café, and a brass ensemble follows him down the street when he reaches Brooklyn in pursuit of answers from V. When J pleads with V to stay on a pier overlooking the Hudson, a sad house beat takes over.  The character of J cannot keep his own emotions out of his songs, and Jens finds a way to underscore this in ways that will constantly surprise the listener. He is often joined by Matilda Sargren giving voice to V’s feelings and thoughts. Jens discovered Matilida when he played with a youth orchestra from the neighborhood where he grew up (Hammarkullen outside of Gothenburg). Initially she was only meant to sing on the demos, but once she started vocalizing V, there was no question that she would be on the final album. If Jens and I have done our jobs, the novel and the album tell both sides of J and V’s story – and the tension comes from how these sides fit together. Again – that’s love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eI will let Jens get the final word here:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e“While this story is very much about a relationship and how it’s reflected through the relationships and weddings of others, most of all I think it’s a love story about music and its value in a time when it’s been devalued and turned into content by tech companies. Its ability to soothe and connect and its role in the transitional moments of our lives such as weddings. It’s a lovesong to lovesongs.” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"LP (Opaque Green Vinyl w\/ Signed Card)","offer_id":45982290378915,"sku":"SC391lp-C2","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":45982290346147,"sku":"SC391cd","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Fanpack 1","offer_id":46039703617699,"sku":"SC391xbnd01","price":60.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Fanpack 2","offer_id":46039703650467,"sku":"SC391xbnd02","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Book","offer_id":46039703584931,"sku":"SC391book","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/SC391.jenslekman.sfopw.mock.LP-C2.signed.jpg?v=1776688510"},{"product_id":"the-cherry-trees-are-still-in-blossom-t-shirt","title":"The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom T-Shirt","description":"\u003cp\u003eJens Lekman 'The Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom' T-shirt\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"T-Shirt Small","offer_id":46216819638435,"sku":"SC389-T01-USM","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"T-Shirt Medium","offer_id":46216819671203,"sku":"SC389-T01-UMD","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"T-Shirt Large","offer_id":46216819703971,"sku":"SC389-T01-ULG","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"T-Shirt X-Large","offer_id":46216819736739,"sku":"SC389-T01-UXL","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"T-Shirt XX-Large","offer_id":46216819769507,"sku":"SC389-T01-UXXL","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"T-Shirt XXX-Large","offer_id":46216819802275,"sku":"SC389-T01-UXXXL","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/sc388.389.mock.tee.1-_1.jpg?v=1715585083"},{"product_id":"other-people-other-wedding-songs-secretly-society-record-club-exclusive","title":"Other People, Other Wedding Songs (Music from the book 'Songs For Other People’s Weddings’) Secretly Society Record Club Exclusive","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Secretly Society Exclusive Blue ReVINYL is ONLY available to Record Club Members. Purchasing a subscription means you will automatically receive this record in July! \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003eOn July 3rd, Secretly Society will release a limited edition vinyl LP of \"Other People, Other Wedding Songs\" by Jens Lekman. The digital album will also be available across streaming services on the same date. These songs were originally included as a download accompanying the book 'Songs For Other People’s Weddings', written by David Levithan. They are wedding songs that J (the protagonist in the story) writes as a service to couples who are about to get married. A few of them appear on Jens' album \"Songs For Other People’s Weddings\" that came out last year but here they appear in stripped down, acoustic versions. If you want you can listen to them while reading the book, playing them one by one as they appear in the story, giving you just enough time to go get a cold slice of water melon from the fridge before you continue the chapter. But you’re the boss, listen to them anyway you want. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jens Lekman","offers":[{"title":"Blue ReVINYL","offer_id":47686999998627,"sku":"SC518lp-C1","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/6703\/2483\/files\/SC518.jenslekman.OPOWS.mockup.LP.SS.jpg?v=1779884410"}],"url":"https:\/\/secretlystore.com\/collections\/jens-lekman.oembed","provider":"Secretly Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}