Jens Lekman @ Black Cat 10/25/07

so i picked up "oh you're so silent jens" in early 2006 and jens lekman quickly became one of my favorite singer/songwriters

jens combines stephin merritt's baritone, unbelievable knack for melody, and quirky song topics with morrissey's acerbic wit and sufjan stevens' lush orchestral arrangements ... but while sufjan and morrissey can get self-important and annoying, jens always winks at himself and keeps things whimsical ... there is so much great music out of scandinavia these days, and jens sits at the top of that list

anyway, i think "black cab" best sums up what jens is all about:



his latest album, "night falls over kortedala", came out earlier this month and it is (predictably) fantastic

jens has toured america a couple of times in the last couple of years, but has always skipped over DC ... so when i saw he was scheduled to play at black cat, i snapped up tickets really quickly ... i was more psyched up for this show than i have been for a long long time (maybe the shins' first DC show at black cat in early 2004 or arcade fire in their first DC show at 9:30 club in early 2005) ... usually when i get really excited for a show it's hard for it to meet or exceed my lofty expectations, but jens really knocked it out of the park

the washington post wrote:

If the boyish 26-year-old isn't yet a certifiable pop music genius, his inspired performance in front of an enraptured sellout crowd proved that he's at least well on his way.

and summarized the encore thusly:

Set closer "Pocketful of Money" took a reliably horrible gimmick -- Lekman and the audience singing a round, in unison -- and made something truly magical out of it. Even Lekman admitted it was the "most beautiful" version of that song to date and to play anything else would simply ruin the moment.

check it out for yourself: