Album Review

Jens Lekman – Night falls over Kortedala

• 19th Nov 2007

Plucky and drama driven orchestrations carry Jens Lekmans (JL) Divine Comedy echoing voice, as do Barry Manilow-esque disco derived departures from JLs off centre, optimism fuelled indie M.O. Night falls over Kortedala is a collection of songs from the last 3 years of JLs career, compiled in the name of his best friend Lisa, who’s surely honoured, right? Damn right!

Fans of JL will have by now acclimatised and adjusted to his initially sickly sweet voice that does transform into a deliverer of warm and heartfelt vocals, those that haven’t will remain engaged by the luscious charm of his sparkling, sample rich and shiny Belle and Sebastian pop like sounds.

With accompaniment from supporting talents that include amongst others, El Perro Del Mar and the wonderful Frida Hyvonen, this mixed bag of delights simply refuses to be pigeonholed as being merely 70s TV theme inspired flights of fancy nor cutting edge mainstream indie for closet fans caught up in the underground to secretly relish. It’s somewhere in-between. Yeah sure, why not, I’ll go on record as having said that.