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Music CD - Jens Lekman: Night Falls Over Kortedala
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Music CD: Night Falls Over Kortedala
Artist: Jens Lekman
List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $10.28
Your Save: $ 4.70 ( 31% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Secretly Canadian
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Tracks:
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1. And I Remember Every Kiss
2. Sipping On The Sweet Nectar
3. Opposite Of Hallelujah, The
4. Postcard To Nina, A
5. Into Eternity
6. I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You
7. If I Could Cry (It Would Feel Like This)
8. Your Arms Around Me
9. Shirin
10. It Was A Strange Time In My Life
11. Kanske Ar Jag Kar I Dig
12. Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0656605016023
Label: Secretly Canadian
Manufacturer: Secretly Canadian
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Secretly Canadian
Release Date: 2007-10-09
Studio: Secretly Canadian
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Fanatsic Album
Comment: This album is totally awesome. I saw Jens play live after a friend told me about him. The day after the concert I bought this album and I've loved it ever since.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excessiveness of this record nearly defeats it.
Comment: Right, so two things about this record, its pretty good but its for sure not great.
While the lyrics are catchy, witty and sometimes downright lovely, the music is overdone overdone overdone (Jens please see Joy Berry's "Overdoing It"), and the elaborate liberties taken by Mr. Lekman sometimes over-power the charming simple nature of his lyrics (the first two tracks "And i remember every kiss" & "Sipping on the sweet nectar" I skip all together because of how simply obstreperously irritating they are arranged).
But the record does have its high moments, particularly "Your arms around me", which is probably the best song on the record, although I recommend the acoustic version over this one. "It was a strange time in my life" borders on annoying but eventually wins out as another one of the record's highlights.
So while I'll continue to say "too much time, too much money" was thrown at the production of this one, its worth having. It was made for sunny days and bicycle rides.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Investment
Comment: I purchased Night Falls Over Kortedala after stumbling upon him in Itunes. I especially recommend "Into Eternity."
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best of 2007
Comment: Jens Lekman's "Night Falls Over Kortedala" is absolutely amazing. I have to disagree with the only one star review posted here complaining about Jens' voice. His voice can only be aptly described as delicious. If velvet had a sound, it would be Jens Lekman. The ambience of this record is truly magical. The songs seem to communicate a sort of melancholy mood with an aftertaste of optimism. Songs like "The Opposite of Hallelujah," "Postcard From Nina" and "I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You" have a certain nostalgia about them and are dripping with irony. Though the music sounds somewhat corny, it really fits the lyrics perfectly. The music really recalls a previous time just like many of the lyrics do. The instrumentation is so colorful with syrupy strings, angelic ukuleles, sparkly glockenspiels and brilliant samples, especially the one that leads into the chorus on "Postcard From Nina." Lekman has produced an incredible work of art with "Night Falls Over Kortedala." This album is absolutely brilliant.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Jens, please, stop singing!
Comment: The CD cover is amazing. Songs are pure pop and well produced. The weak is the voice. Jens has a tremendous boring voice; everything comes from his nose + throat and so it's incredibly anonimous. It is a real pity because the songs could be little works of art. So the best tracks on the CDs are the ones with a lot of music and not so much "Jens' Voice". The Chorus on "If I Could Cry" make this song the most enjoyable of the entire album. Lekman should write his songs for other singers and I think he would be very happy too.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Halfway through the first track of Jens Lekman's finest offering yet, "And I Remember Every Kiss," a Lekman neophyte might be sure they've got him pegged. Here's another Scott-Walker-worshipping yungin; a precocious string-section crooner. To be sure, there's plenty of string-soaked melodrama here, and Lekman puts that modest Morrissey-esque croon to work throughout the album. But after the high camp Copa-Cabana disco of "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar," the breezy latin-flavored "Into Eternity," the acoustic lullaby of "Shirin" or the, uh, drive-in vibe of "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo," it's clear Lekman's ambition and sense of humor can't be confined to one small corner of imitation or appropriation. Appropriation--in the literal sense, for that matter--is one of Lekman's great strengths, as evidenced by the new context he gives his many perfect samples, be it a drum loop from the Residents and Renaldo & The Loaf record Title in Limbo, or any number of lifted orchestral bits. Lekman weaves many of his samples so seamlessly into his presentation, one is often at a loss to distinguish samples from live instruments. The end result is something like a new millennium Brill Building, with songcraft at the helm, but awash in modern production technique. Lekman's world masterfully pairs the electronic with the human. Lekman's also a pro at the sort of wry lyrical melancholia one associates with the aforementioned Morrissey, or other contemporaries like Stephen Merritt of the Magnetic Fields. He's a lot less caustic, but still plays the biographical narrator stewing in life's near misses. He's got a real silly streak, however, just as quick to pen couplets like "my heart is beating, beating like Ringo/as I pull into the drive-in bingo," or "I took my sister down to the ocean/but the ocean made me feel stupid." These lyrical gems illustrate one certainty. Night Falls Over Kortedala is unabashedly precious. Lekman's meticulously crafted, symphonic indie-pop is all saccharine indulgence, but hey, he owns it, and that makes the payoff all the more sweet. --Jason Pace
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