Four years since Jens Lekman’s last album, Night Falls Over Kortedala, he has just announced that he plans to release a new album and a new EP in 2011.
I interviewed him in Shanghai in December, 2008, I guess around the middle of his hiatus. He was tired that day, and it was hard to work out where that ended and where his Tiredness Of It All began, but to mark his return, here’s the slightly painful transcript, with a few of the most fruitless exchanges pared away. I left in the original “[etc]” that comes towards the end though, an ominous little shadow on the x-ray of the interview.
What did you think of the crowds here?
In China? The Beijing crowd was amazing. There was so much feeling in that crowd. It was almost boiling over. That room was so hot. The crowd last night [in Shanghai] was kind of rude, I think. But I like the rudeness. It’s kind of like, ah, I dunno, I’m too much of a nice guy sometimes I think. It’s nice when I feel like people are rude to me, and I feel like I can be a little bit rude back.
But you do that in a pretty gentle, ironic, sarcastic way and some people don’t even notice. I think last night you said something like ‘I like it when people talk through my songs’.
Yeah, I meant that.
Because?
Well I just, I find it kind of unnerving when people expect some kind of respect from people, you know? That people should shut up because I’m talking now, I’m singing now, you know. I don’t know, for what it’s worth it’s still like entertainment. People are going out to meet other people and have a good time.
And you went out into the crowd afterwards to hang out. When you do that, those conversations after the show, what sort of interchanges are you having? What have people got to say when they talk to you after shows?
They usually talk about their lives and their problems and… It’s very different from place to place but I find that here people came up and started talking about their relationship problems right away.
Any good material?
Um, nothing that I would write a song about but it was nice, I like that. Other places are, you know, in Australia you’re playing and some guys will come up and ask you what your favourite soccer team is.
In a couple of interviews that I read up on you talk about being without a home, something that might resonate with expats living abroad. Is that people increasingly feel an affinity with?
I guess there’s a romantic side of it. But I dunno, I wanna find a home.
What are the lead contenders?
Australia, I guess, I dunno. I dunno if I can get a visa there. Yeah, probably Australia.
Would you describe Australia as your home now?
No. I don’t have a home right now. I’m totally homeless.
And that seems to me to play into the relationship side of things as well. If you don’t have some quite set, structured aspect of your life it’s hard to build around it.
I don’t know, I haven’t had a relationship for eight years.
I guess that usually surprises people if they’ve listened to your music.
Well I long for it, yeah. I think my music is more about longing.
Sometimes there’s a disconnect between behaviour that you know is good for your own satisfaction versus what’s good for you to create. Is that sometimes true of relationships?
Yeah…
Or maybe not, maybe you don’t want to have a relationship.
I don’t want to talk about relationships, really.
What’s with the keys around your necks?
Oh it’s a secret actually but I can show you. We got them from a locksmith and they haven’t been, ah, turned into keys yet. They don’t lead anywhere. They haven’t been cut yet.
I already have a reading of this. Can I guess?
No, because you will read my face. Write it in your article.
Another aspect of your songs is that they often have a very local, geographically-specific base. Do you think that travels well when you’re playing internationally?
Yeah, I think so. I dunno I just think you need a backdrop when you write about something. It needs to be set somewhere. At least in my songs.
The realist details seem important to making the most of those absurd moments, and locations are part of that.
Details are important. Words are very important, I’m very much in love with words. Sometimes I write a song, a story about words. Asthma inhaler is one of my favourite words. It just represents something, it’s just an image of someone putting that asthma inhaler up to their mouth.
It’s an intimate gesture.
It is yeah. And then there’s usually – if that would be in a movie there would be a reason behind it.
I think my friend came up to you and threatened to force a ukulele on you to play at tonight’s show.
That was your friend?
Yeah. And the same girl asked me – I’m separating myself from this question because I get shy about this stuff – but she said a lot of your songs are about first kisses and there are a lot of lyrics about it. How did you have your first kiss?
On a basketball field, ah, basketball court, when I was 19.
Did you initiate it?
Hmm, I think it was 50/50.
You’ll be using the projector in the show tonight [showing footage of Lekman steering a two-seat plane]. Do you really fly a plane?
Yeah, yeah I do.
Where did you learn to do that?
I never… I think the laws just don’t apply when you’re in Iceland so – you can do anything you want there. I can’t land or start the plane but I had a pilot that was lying down in the back seat screaming things at me. But yeah, I think that’s one of my favourite moments in my life, flying that plane.
Do you think you’ll take some lessons and do some more flying?
I would love to, yeah. Someone asked me seriously in an interview for one of the Chinese shows, how are you traveling? Are you taking your plane with you? And they were actually serious about it. They thought that that was my private plane and that was the way I went on tours.
Like you’re John Travolta – he flies a 747 or something. Whereas what was the range of that plane?
You could get across Iceland I think. But yeah it’s not a very big plane.
Not having a home, is there anything that you nonetheless feel is very Swedish about your music?
Your roots, whatever small town you’re from you stay there.
Is there anything particular that you do feel is very Swedish about what you do?
No, not really.
I think I would guess that you were Swedish without seeing you.
I’m Wellonian, I think they were from Belgium or something. I don’t know who they were.
Have you got anything coming up that you can let me in on?
No, not at all. Everything is, um – I have no plans at all.
What about after this tour?
No, not at all. I don’t even know where I’m going after that.
Do you enjoy that?
Not any more, no. Not right now. Maybe I’ll go home for Christmas.
I knew a girl from Iceland who said they celebrate Christmas pretty seriously there. Is it the same in Sweden?
Yeah, it’s pretty serious. With the snow and everything. People are into the light because it’s so far north.
[etc]
I’m gonna go take a nap now.