The (Adorable) Attack of the Swedes

On the short list of Sweden’s most popular exports, adorable
indie pop musicians are right up there with IKEA and
gravlax—think Lykke Li’s bouncy Olsen twin impression, or the
magisterial mopiness of El Perro del Mar. The most huggable Swede of
them all is undeniably Jens Lekman, whose upbeat, sample-heavy pop
hooks and frank, romantic lyrics have earned him the unqualified
affection of mushy-hearted music fans worldwide.

On the phone from Melbourne, Lekman is as poised and gracious as his
records—and his generous, stylish live performances—would
suggest. Though he hasn’t released an album since 2007’s Night Falls
over Kortedala, and says he’s not currently working on a new one,
he promises a handful of new songs for his current tour. The lack of a
new album has much to do with the 28-year-old learning to navigate his
own creative process. After temporarily renouncing music in 2005 to
take a short-lived job at a bingo parlor, Lekman reports that he’s
since learned to balance songwriting with the need for an occasional
timeout.

“I feel more natural about taking breaks now. Back in 2005 I felt
like I had to quit music for a while to be able to clear my head and to
deal with stuff, but this time I didn’t have to make such a big deal of
it. I had a bit of a creativity ban last year, where I just stopped
writing for a while,” he says. “I just can’t write when I’m going
through stuff. It’s like pouring manure into an espresso machine and
thinking there’s gonna be a cappuccino coming out.”

The last time Lekman played Portland, a March 2008 show at
Berbati’s, it was with a white-clad female backing band, in a welcome
inversion of the familiar rock-band formula. “That band just came
together,” he explains. “There are a lot of female musicians in the
world… I think next time you talk to an all-male band, you should ask
them, ‘How did this happen?’ I change my band for every tour, though;
this time it’s more of a mixed band. The Swedish model—50/50.”
And the matching outfits? “Lately, we’ve been very obsessed with our
touring socks, which we plan every day.”

Despite a reputation for staunchly supporting up-and-coming bands,
lately he’s forgone touring with other bands altogether—a recent
Swedish tour featured comedian Todd Barry (best known for his role as
Mickey Rourke’s boss in The Wrestler). Comedian Tig Notaro joins
Lekman on the current West Coast tour, invited after Lekman saw and
loved her set at SXSW in 2008. “I like these tours, the in-between
album tours, because you have so much more choice of who you’re going
to bring,” he says. “I’m a huge comedy fan, and I like that model, of
comedy, and some music, and Viktor [Sjöberg] DJing
after—such a perfect buildup, instead of just having band, band,
band, and then you get a strained neck.”

While an unconventional show structure and the promise of cute
Swedes in fancy socks gives Portlanders plenty of reasons to be
excited, Lekman is equally enthusiastic about returning to
Portland.

“I’m looking forward to Portland very much. I love that city. I had
this feeling there that I had in my hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, a
feeling that they don’t care what’s going on in the rest of the
country, or the rest of the world, for that matter—like people
are just creating, and minding their own business, and looking to their
own backyard.”