Jens Lekman recently provided us with a Metromix first: He’s the first interview subject who was certain we were a free Swedish newspaper. (Turns out, there’s a similarly named publication, Metro, passed out in Sweden’s subways.)
The 24-year-old Swede, who now lives in Melbourne, Australia, is full of surprises. They range from confusion about his name (his song “Rocky Dennis’ Farewell Song to the Blind Girl” led many to think it was Rocky Dennis) to his unusual inspiration for songs (“Shirin” is about his barber in Kortedala, Sweden, where he once lived).
Lekman’s latest, “Night Falls Over Kortedala,” is a wonderfully sweet indie-pop record that, it must be noted, earned a nearly unattainable 9.0 rating from Pitchfork.
From Austin, Texas, Lekman gave us an honest, hilarious look into his head.
Why Kirsten Dunst should play him in a movie:She’s the only celebrity I’ve ever heard say she likes my music … So that was very cool for a brief moment. I think she would make a really good Jens Lekman.
On if he’s a romantic:People sometimes ask me, “Are you a romantic?” And I don’t really know what to say because I really don’t know what the opposite would be. I think about what it would be like to not be romantic. I think that would be like being dead. I can’t really see how anyone could not be romantic.
About the longest he’s ever stayed in town after a show:One of the first times I went to Melbourne I just hung around for a week afterwards, even though I was supposed to go to Sydney and do a lot of press stuff. Just because I met some really nice people and I found it really nice there. I just extended the hotel stay for a couple days and by the third day or something I had so many friends that I could just jump from one house to the next.
About the barber who inspired “Shirin”:She was the best. I don’t think it’s very hard to cut my hair, but you need to do it right. She was always singing along to Bryan Adams songs when she was cutting my hair and giving me a bit of head massage. Her singing “Run to You” while cutting my hair, that definitely was special to me. [Laughs] I’m serious. Basically the only good thing about Kortedala was going to her to have my haircut.
On run-ins with the law in Kortedala:When I put out a vinyl single with “Maple Leaves,” I went out and I picked these maple leaves because it was in October and I wanted each copy to have a real maple leaf in there. It was in the middle of the night because I was kind of embarrassed about picking leaves. These cops came up and they were like, “What are you doing?” And I said, “I’m picking leaves.” And they said, “Stop that and go home.” I said, “I’m just picking leaves. That’s all I’m doing.” “Well, someone’s been complaining.” And so I had to go home.
About who complains about picking leaves:There’s a lot of old people that have nothing to do and they can’t sleep at night, so they sit in their apartments with binoculars and report anything that looks suspicious. Except if anyone actually gets mugged like I was a lot of times, then they don’t give a [crap].
On what Kortedala will do if he comes back, since he’s made some digs at the city since leaving: What are they going to do? Because I am the first person who’s ever put that place on the map. There is no one who had ever mentioned that place before. And I have said a lot of negative things, but I’ve also romanticized it a little bit. So I bet that right now the politicians out there are sitting there planning, “Should we raise a statue or should we hang him from a tree?”
Matt Pais is the Metromix music and movies producer.
mpais@tribune.com
