Night Falls Over Kortedala

iTunes Review

For his second full length album, after a series of EPs, Swedish troubadour Jens Lekman turns in an ambitiously orchestrated, lushly arranged pop gem. Recalling the cinematic melodrama of Lee Hazlewood, Scottt Walker, Curtis Mayfield and others from that late-‘60s-early ’70 era, Lekman adds his own self-conscious cuteness. “And I Remember Every Kiss,” “The Opposite of Hallejuah,” “I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You” and “Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo” tell tales that are achingly resonant matters of the heart that Lekman can’t help but deliver with a knowing wink. All of which could fall into a smarmy self-congratulation, except Lekman fires up the timpani, horns, strings, keyboards and guitars until the swelling mass bursts into a catharsis of its own. Lekman’s literary ambitions turn his lyrics into short stories, diary entries and psychological self-study, but he never loses the thrill of the nightclub. There’s romance in these grooves, even when the stories tend toward the lonely and awkward. Sometimes the humor of the situation turns out to be the most revealing truth.