Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala

Label: Secretly Canadian

Oh, Jens. Sweden’s best export (sorry, IKEA) returns with another brilliant effort – no surprises there, as it’s been obvious since his 2005 debut that Secretly Canadian’s boy wonder has rare talent. But how could we have expected him to produce a new album this good? Night Falls Over Kortedala has Lekman’s signature heart-on-his-sleeve story lyrics, his gorgeously imperfect vocals, and, most of all, his warm, exquisite production that merges a wide variety of samples with live instruments, hand-claps and drum-machines, harps and ukeleles. But never have Lekman’s arrangements been so vast and thoughtful, taking his songs thisclose to “over the top” without actually getting there. This deftness, applied here to his most accomplished batch of songs yet (many already familiar from his live shows), make Night Falls Over Kortedala far and away Lekman’s best. (Anna)