Jens Lekman

Life Will See You Now

BY Alex HudsonPublished Feb 15, 2017

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In 2015, Swedish troubadour Jens Lekman released 68 new cuts between his two songwriting experiment series', Postcards and Ghostwriting. With that volume of output, it's only natural that his quality control was a little less strict than usual. For his fourth official full-length, however, Lekman returns to his usual meticulous self.
 
The production on Life Will See You Now is beautifully lush, and the upbeat mood marks a departure from 2012's generally downcast I Know What Love Isn't. Even when Lekman sings about melancholy subjects, the arrangements are joyous: the disco-kissed "Evening Prayer" is a bubblegum funk thumper about a friend with cancer, while "What's That Perfume That You Wear?" is a bubbly breakup lament that sparkles with steel drums.
 
Lekman recently turned 36, and his maturity is evident in the album's emotional nuance: "Wedding in Finistère" details a bride's doubts on the day of her wedding, while "How We Met, the Long Version" traces the evolution of life on Earth before finally revealing itself to be a story about how Lekman met his girlfriend. Life Will See You Now tackles life's most drastic ups and downs with good-natured empathy, making it both complex and comforting.
(Secretly Canadian)

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