Jens Lekman, An Argument With Myself
Featured Album
Only Jens Lekman is crazy and clever enough to have a decent argument with Jens Lekman
“Fuck you! No you fuck you!” Jens Lekman yells at himself about halfway through the title track of this, a stopgap release of sorts, made up of songs that don’t quite fit on his forthcoming full-length, or, as Lekman said this summer, “a little taste of what’s not to come.” It’s also one of the best tracks in his catalogue to date, and when he sits himself down on a curb in the bridge that follows this obscenity-laden chorus to talk it out and realizes he’s going to have to agree to disagree with himself, it almost makes a weird kind of sense. Only Jens Lekman is crazy and clever enough to have a decent argument with Jens Lekman.
Elsewhere, Lekman stalks Kirsten Dunst while mourning the changing landscape of his once-home of Gothenburg, Sweden, before getting asked to leave a hotel for public drunkenness (“Waiting for Kirsten”), tells a sick friend he’ll show him the world when he’s feeling better (“A Promise”), ponders the existential crisis of who his friends are and where he belongs in the world (“New Directions”) and rounds the whole thing out by wondering aloud about the weirdness of this guy at his office (“So This Guy at My Office”). Loss, confusion and frustration are the theme here, and while the songs are certainly clever and enjoyable to listen to, perhaps that’s what his argument is stemming from. One can only assume there’s a joyous conclusion on the upcoming album.
