Jens Lekman Life Will See You Now
Published Feb 15, 2017
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)