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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Tops Swedish chart. Won’t happen here. Pity. No matter. Put this CD in your player, listen and get blown away. There have been some excellent albums this year. No doubt about it - this is THE best. 2007 began with a masterpiece – Ray Lamontagne’s Till The Sun Turns Black. Then came Rufus Wainwright’s Release The Stars, Beirut’s opus The Flying Club Cup, and a few others.
Now the year closes with the jaw-dropping Night Falls Over Kortedala. Kid you not, this is quite sensational. 21st century ‘Pure Pop’ never sounded so wonderful, and it comes from 26 year old Swede Jens Martin Lekman. The music, and I mean music, that’s going here is breathtaking. It’s a no-holds-barred and freewheeling approach. Vocally, Lekman’s a hybrid of Scott Walker and Morrisey. The songwriting craft is of the highest order. There’s undoubted schmaltz, sweet cabaret style – Sipping On The Sweet Nectar with fluttering flutes and swirling strings to a belting big beat and good old fashoned Northern Soul even, propelled by masses of strings on The Opposite Of Hallelujah. It all begings with lashings of strings and vocal, leading to a dramatic arrangement a la Rufus Wainwright for And I Remember Every Kiss – a stunning start. Early '70s Soul seems to have influenced the gentle A Postcard To Nina, as the genre is rubber stamped by the male vocal backups. Into the mix he throws in a bit of disco-cabaret, a throwback to '70s Tony Orlando’s Dawn (Tie A Yellow Ribbon) crossed with Richard Hawley’s crooning. Masterful clunking piano and stylish singing open I’m Leaving You... that leads to a funky beat and sprinkling of harp – a potent mix indeed, making it the jewel in the crown. Following -on is another soulful piece, If I Could Cry. This one is special because of the girlie backups and a '60s string onslaught texturising the latent percussion, which changes pace on the run-in.
A swirling harp and emotional strings prefix one of Lekman’s best vocal moments on the monumental Your Arms Around Me, supplemented by deft R’n’B beats, making it another grand moment to savour. Back to the '60s again for a Frankie Valli styled vocal for the often pulsating and swooning Shirin, whereas the funk-soul-R’n’B Kanske Ar... is loaded with golden Beach Boys tight harmonies and melodies. With the sixties bulking the retro feel, a brilliant sax solo introduces (and pops up throughout) Friday Night At The Drive-in Bingo. This is a fun dance track that closes what must be considered a 21 century masterpiece. Lekman laboured over three years for the choice of tracklisting. It paid off. This is truly magnificent, in every way. The more I hear it, the more I’m convinced. File under: Best album of 2007.
Weblinks:
jenslekman.com /
secretlycanadian.com /
secretlycanadian.com/press
The full list of tracks included are :
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
