{"title":"Jens Lekman","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJens Lekman is a Swedish musician born on February 06, 1981 in Angered, Sweden. Known for his heartfelt and introspective songwriting, Lekman has captivated audiences with his unique blend of indie pop and folk music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInfluenced by artists such as El Perro del Mar, Camera Obscura, and The Magnetic Fields, Lekman's music resonates with listeners through its relatable lyrics and catchy melodies. His songs often explore themes of love, loss, and the complexities of human relationships.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a discography that spans over two decades, Jens Lekman has established himself as a respected figure in the indie music scene. His albums have received critical acclaim and he continues to tour internationally, captivating audiences with his charismatic stage presence.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"when-i-said-i-wanted-to-be-your-dog","title":"When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog","description":"\u003cp\u003efollowing three fascinating and diverse eps here's the debut full length for sweden's pop crooner jens lekman. a set of quality suburban pop with a timeless elegance that is turning him into a star in his native country. think magnetic fields, nilsson, todd rundgren, belle and sebastian etc. on secretly canadian.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50409850601803,"sku":"194111","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a19b1a30-f0fd-48c9-acd9-e9009a330d0c_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726630037"},{"product_id":"an-argument-with-myself","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 the '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":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"12\"","offer_id":50409989505355,"sku":"343027","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50409990226251,"sku":"343026","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/f8fadfca-e6e6-4d35-85d2-6ea408ef256e_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726633877"},{"product_id":"i-know-what-love-isn-t-1","title":"I Know What Love Isn't","description":"\u003cp\u003elimited 2cd version featuring the entire 'argument with myself' ep from 2011. tracey thorn wrote a song that reached jens in the early stages of his new album, 'i know what love isn't'. in her song she sang \"oh jens, oh jens \/ your songs seem to look through a different lens \/ you're still so young, love ends just as easy as it's begun.\" a touching moment for the swedish songwriter, having been a fan since his teens. but it came to him in a time when he found himself very confused and in doubt. he was changing and, subsequently, so were his songs. they weren't looking through that lens anymore. 'i know what love isn't' came out of a break up, something jens didn't see as worth writing about at first. the songs began more fleeting than the last go around, on his 2007 album 'night falls over kortedala'. the songs began building from images and memories and soon began to take their own route, one that lekman wasn't privy to their destination. in 'the world moves on' he paints a picture of a sweltering summer in the city of melbourne where he lived while writing and recording the album. the hot days that led up to the black saturday bushfires, but also more mundane images of feeding possums in a park or getting in trouble with some guy on a scooter. it seems to lead nowhere at first but the aimlessness in itself reaches heartbreaking conclusions later on, summed up by the soaring chorus \"...and you don't get over a broken heart, you just learn to carry it gracefully.\" like joan didion once said that she writes entirely to find out what she's thinking, jens wrote until he caught up with his thoughts. and of course they led him right back to the break up. musically, 'i know what love isn't' chooses an economic route. from the vast palette he created for 'kortedala, he's only chosen a few somber colours this time around. there are strings but no't a string section, an upright piano and not a grand, a single saxophone and gracenotes from a flute. the songs are lighter, almost aerodynamic, jens explains - \"i wanted the songs to take off almost unnoticeably, where the chorus is separated from the verse only through a small detail like a tambourine or a harmony. like when you're in an airplane taking off and you look out the window and realize you're already in the air.\" a dry country piano makes 'become someone else's' lift high. vocals from melbourne singer sophie brous makes the chorus in 'erica america' soar. strings pick up the title track and send it up to the sky without much effort or force. in the latter, lekman once again points the way to distill essential truths from every day life vignettes while singing about a sham marriage. \"i thought of the friday nights when i'd be cruising up and down the street with my best friend in her old crappy holden, talking about getting married to get me into the country. the idea was so appealing, that we would build this constructed relationship around a purpose rather than some vague feeling that could change at anytime. but in the end, the sham marriage is much too great a story to be kept secret. at least when you make a living from telling stories.\" and 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 that you have to excavate and explore, using the method of exclusion, to find out what love is.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"CD | x2","offer_id":50410322362699,"sku":"353254","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/7571331b-aa11-4cc8-910a-b65e79ed7ccb_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726640708"},{"product_id":"life-will-see-you-now","title":"Life Will See You Now","description":"\u003cp\u003eJens Lekman releases his new album, \u003ci\u003eLife Will See You Now\u003c\/i\u003e via Secretly Canadian. 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. His fourth, \u003ci\u003eLife Will See You Now \u003c\/i\u003eis 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. But, as the title suggests, it also represents a significant move forward, as if across a threshold. \u003ci\u003eI Know What Love Isn’t\u003c\/i\u003e (2012) was informed by a painful relationship breakdown that pitched its author into something of a crisis and so necessarily put him at its center, using a muted sound palette. But \u003ci\u003eLife Will See You Now\u003c\/i\u003e is the more expansive, upbeat sound of a revitalized 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. Lekman experiments 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 realize his new songs. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP - Black Vinyl with Download.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP+ - Limited Orange Vinyl with Download.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secretly Canadian","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50417496129867,"sku":"1003867","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50417496424779,"sku":"1003865","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/8c9410fa-171c-4131-b34a-580ef4ff2720_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726731238"},{"product_id":"the-cherry-trees-are-still-in-blossom","title":"The Cherry Trees are Still in Blossom","description":"\u003cp\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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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 \u003ci\u003eOh You’re So Silent Jens\u003c\/i\u003e. His DIY fantasias found their fullest and most celebrated form in 2007 on his second album proper, the exquisite \u003ci\u003eNight Falls Over Kortedala\u003c\/i\u003e – 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\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow, like \u003ci\u003eOh You’re So Silent Jens,\u003c\/i\u003e it no longer exists in its original form.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e Oh You’re So Silent Jens \u003c\/i\u003eenigmatically disappeared in 2011; \u003ci\u003eNight Falls Over Kortedala\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003ci\u003eThe Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom\u003c\/i\u003e 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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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\/p\u003e","brand":"Secretly Canadian","offers":[{"title":"Black LPx2","offer_id":50457408405835,"sku":"1153231","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Pink LPx2","offer_id":50457411289419,"sku":"1153232","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50457405587787,"sku":"1153229","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/99ec81a3-19f4-4f2d-80dc-7ea1afc63409_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727205186"},{"product_id":"the-linden-trees-are-still-in-blossom","title":"The Linden Trees are Still in Blossom","description":"\u003cp\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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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 \u003ci\u003eOh You’re So Silent Jens\u003c\/i\u003e. His DIY fantasias found their fullest and most celebrated form in 2007 on his second album proper, the exquisite \u003ci\u003eNight Falls Over Kortedala\u003c\/i\u003e – 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\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow, like \u003ci\u003eOh You’re So Silent Jens,\u003c\/i\u003e it no longer exists in its original form.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eOh You’re So Silent Jens \u003c\/i\u003eenigmatically disappeared in 2011; \u003ci\u003eNight Falls Over Kortedala\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003ci\u003eThe Cherry Trees Are Still In Blossom\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Linden Trees Are Still In Blossom\u003c\/i\u003e 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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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\/p\u003e\u003cp\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\/p\u003e","brand":"Secretly Canadian","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP | x2","offer_id":50502714753355,"sku":"1153236","price":47.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Clear LPx2","offer_id":50502713344331,"sku":"1153237","price":47.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50502716719435,"sku":"1153234","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/c1311dec-c7d1-4115-9b2e-61449a82b6c1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727791906"},{"product_id":"i-know-what-love-isn-t","title":"I Know What Love Isn't","description":"\u003cp\u003eJens Lekman's third full album, I Know What Love Isn't was recorded over a period of three years in a number of studios on different continents, but sounds like the result of a single focused recording session. It's his first album to be recorded mostly by musicians instead of being built chiefly around samples (though there are a few to be found scattered throughout), and Lekman proves to be just as adept working this way as he was in the past. He blends the instruments together like a skilled painter and gets emotional performances from everyone, especially the string players. These performances fit with the lyrics because somewhere in that time, Lekman seems to have had his heart mangled and\/or broken into a million pieces. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery song on the album revolves around heartache and heartbreak, and while Lekman's sweetly honest vocals and off-kilter wit and wisdom manage to keep things on the light side (mostly), this is very melancholy stuff at its core. The music, too, (mostly) belies the wrenching topic of the words and is pleasantly hooky, breezy, and light. Inspired this time by soft rock and given to the occasional sax solo, tracks like \"Become Someone Else's\" or \"Erica America\" conjure up the relaxed, woodsy feel of bands like America or singers like Carole King. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe arrangements are full and rich, and Lekman sounds at home surrounded by pianos and harmony vocals. Other songs (the title track, \"The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love,\" \"The World Moves On\") bop along happily in a more traditional Lekman fashion, with the heartbreak and sadness soundtracked by glockenspiel, flutes, and handclaps. There's also a strong Prefab Sprout\/Aztec Camera current running through the album, as evidenced in the tricky chord changes and briskly strummed acoustic guitars of \"Some Dandruff on Your Shoulder,\" and the sophisticated sound of the devastating ballad \"She Just Don't Want to Be with You Anymore.\" Whatever the style or feel Lekman aims for, he hits it dead center as usual. I Know What Love Isn't is Lekman at his finest, transmitting real emotion and humor in songs that are impossible to stop humming for days. He may be less the young upstart who might drop goofy samples or jokes into his songs, and more of a seasoned craftsman who's at home in the middle of a string section, but it's hard to deny the brilliance of his melodies and the power of his words. Jens Lekman may have had his heart broken; he's yet to break the hearts of his fans that have come to rely on him for intelligently crafted, emotionally punchy pop of the highest quality.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secretly Canadian","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50506958930251,"sku":"353255","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"when-i-said-i-wanted-to-be-your-dog-25th-anniversary-exclusive","title":"When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog  (25th Anniversary Exclusive)","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor the 25th Anniversary of Secretly Canadian they have pressed up favourites, rarities and deep cut albums on limited coloured vinyl. Following three fascinating and diverse EP's came the debut full length for Sweden's pop crooner Jens Lekman. A set of quality suburban pop with a timeless elegance that is turning him into a star in his native country. Think Magnetic Fields, Nilsson, Todd Rundgren, Belle and Sebastian etc. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secretly Canadian","offers":[{"title":"Green | LP","offer_id":50512853565771,"sku":"1121450","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/fafd10c3-afdf-4e72-8b7b-c02d92c0d6e7_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727908380"},{"product_id":"songs-for-other-peoples-weddings","title":"Songs for Other People's Weddings","description":"\u003cp\u003eJens Lekman is an accidental wedding singer. But he’s also a wedding singer for a reason. Ever since his 2004 song “If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding)” he has had a side gig fielding requests from strangers to sing at their weddings. For over twenty years, he’s had a particular vantage point from which to see the role love songs can play in our lives. In 2020, he and novelist David Levithan co-conceived a novel-with-music, \u003cem\u003eSongs from Other People’s Weddings.\u003c\/em\u003e Originally this album was meant to contain the songs from the weddings in the book, but as the novel came together, Lekman began to imagine what happened between the book’s chapters. The book and the album eventually became intertwined but also found their own paths. The book remained 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. The result is an exploration of what we sing about when we sing about love -- euphoria, doubt, dislocation, tenderness, conflict, playfulness, gratitude, ingratitude, longing, belonging, questioning, answering. It’s very much about a relationship and how it’s reflected through the relationships and weddings of others, but most of all it’s a lovesong to lovesongs.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secretly Canadian","offers":[{"title":"2LP - Opaque Yellow","offer_id":52832763871563,"sku":"R6390-9959","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":52832763904331,"sku":"R6390-8697","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/jenslekman.sfopw.SC3913000.jpg?v=1752147559"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_e36bc879_thumbnail_4096_895c42ec-023d-48cf-a1d3-2563cc8ff908.jpg?v=1726630020","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/collections\/jens-lekman.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}