At first handshake, he’s the ideal son-in-law: heartbreakingly polite, with a nice egg-like Euro noggin that’d look damn cute on the grandkids, a sharp whistle for emergencies and a back-pocket ukulele to entertain the extended family after dinner.
But Jens Lekman is the first to admit he’s a disaster in disguise. He graffittied dirty words on your old man’s Mercedes (‘You Are the Light’) and got frisky in the guest bedroom (‘The Cold Swedish Winter’) on 2004’s When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog. He convinced you to run away from your frigid ‘mummy’ of a mommy on between-album EP USA October 2005, then faked being your boyfriend altogether to protect your parents from finding out about your girlfriend (‘A Postcard to Nina’) on 2007’s Night Falls Over Kortedala.
Few pasty Swedes have the oomph in their twee to nudge me into leaving home for a premature old age of holding hands and listening to each other’s weird dreams on the seashore. But despite a pukeload of winter-wonderland acoustics and one heck of an unhealthy addiction to puppy love, Lekman’s got the teeth to sink his shameless pursuit. The pearly, shivering ‘Sweet Summer’s Night on Hammer Hill’ ‘mdash; standout track on standout 2007 odds-and-ends LP Oh You’re So Silent Jens ‘mdash; skips out on the big game to make an evening of rolling down Poppy Hill, getting all dewy in Shangri La distressed-girl choruses and knocking down the drunk marching band on its way home, landing in one giant heap of cymbals and giggly clarinet geeks.
Lekman’s vocal harpsichords pluck themselves without relief, seldom evolving from puberty’s tremble or the verge of tears, and his never-ending flipbook of anecdotes is enough to put angry spirals in our eyes and exclamatory symbols in the thunderclouds overhead. Not to mention those fucking finger snaps, which could be a form of friendly Scandinavian torture if stripped of the rest of Lekman’s distracting tinks and jangles.
But for one small and amorous Tuesday night, his no-shame sermon will be just enough to bring your own gawky sweetheart to sleeve. Hey, he offered from the get-go: ‘If you ever need a stranger/ To sing at your wedding/ A last-minute choice/ Then I am your man.’
Jens Lekman will perform live with Tig Notaro May 26 at the Loft.