Dear Jens Lekman,

It was pretty overwhelming trying to decide what to focus on for this first letter. There are so many loves I have connected to music. Love(s) of particular songs, albums, venues, specific sounds and/or snippets in songs. What to pick? Where to start? But, I was driving in the rain yesterday and “Higher Power” came on and I teared up. That seems to be a good enough reason as any to begin this project with a letter to you. Isn’t that the purpose of creating art after all? To communicate or express the creator’s feelings with the hope that it will move someone at some future point of contact? Well you did it. It worked.

I began listening to your music in a random sort of way. Random, in that I went through a phase several years ago where I would check out albums from my local library system that were unknown to me. Side note: Pittsburgh has a really wonderful public library system. This library system is the result of Andrew Carnegie having made oodles and oodles of money and, wanting to look good postmortem. So, in a not so roundabout way he unknowingly contributed to your art reaching my ears. Anyway, one of the albums I checked out during that time was “Night Falls Over Kortedala.” I immediately liked it and after the first listen thought “This sounds like Barry Manilow.” and then, “This sounds like Burt Bacharach.” Those were complimentary thoughts. Especially the Bacharach one. That guy is just fantastic! But maybe more about him at another time, as this letter is supposed to be focused on you.

I won’t bore you with a play by play progression of the next albums/songs I began to acquire from your discography. Instead, here are a few snippets of how your music ended up being incorporated into my life.

I will tell you that I have a very pleasant memory from the fall several years ago where I was riding my bike to, and through, a cemetery while listening to “Maple Leaves.” It was a beautiful day and I played the song again and again, enjoying it more and more with each subsequent listen.

Once, during the summer, I was at my friend Amanda’s house and her brother played “Black Cab” for me after we discovered that we had a mutual appreciation for your music. Amanda’s brother and I worked at the same summer camp and I perceived him to be infinitely reserved yet gentle. He was responsible for working as a one on one aide with a camper who could be quiet challenging (this was a camp for kids with varying abilities) and despite this was consistently patient in all situations. He was considered unusual by some of the other counselors because he would always bring a book with him to camp each day and read quietly before our morning staff meeting. On the night he played “Black Cab” for me he was drunk as a skunk and suddenly transformed into someone quite different than the empathetic quiet guy who read literature before camp meetings, and I was sort of scared. As he thrashed around the room and occasionally insulted his sister/my friend I misheard him and assumed the title of the song was “Black Cat.”

Finally, I am amused to tell you that upon first listening my husband declared that your music “sounds like it was made for people who read books.” He wasn’t intending to be complimentary or dismissive, but I think meant to communicate that you weren’t really his cup of tea (he is also a great lover of music, that’s part of why I married him). I’m also aware as I share his summation, that I have a fear that this statement makes him sound like some type of uneducated skeptic with a too small shirt and a big belly which is the result of spending too much time lying around on a couch drinking beer. Do you have people like that in Sweden? It is a stereotype here in the U.S. He actually does not exemplify that cliché at all. You might be pleased to know that eventually you won him over several years ago when we drove 8 hours from Pittsburgh to Chicago one weekend in October to see you play at Lincoln Hall. We had the misfortune of being ticketed for speeding somewhere in Indiana, but even so, it was worth it.

Can I tell you that I think the way you use samples in your music seems like nothing short of magic to me? There is a part of me that would like to know how you do what you do and then there is another part of me (that part has a louder more emphatic voice) that doesn’t want to know at all. Because…..I want the magic to stay magic. That sample from The Left Banke in “Black Cab” is just seamless. So seamless that I didn’t even know it was a sample at first. I also just found out, literally just now on whosampled.com, that there is a Glen Campbell sample in “Maple Leaves.” You tricky devil!

I could go on and on but I don’t want to babble too much lest I lose your interest. While I’ve got the platform I want to make sure I express how much I appreciate how you chose to be interactive with your audience. I just recently found out about your Ghostwriting project via your website. What a lovely idea! Personally, I would be way too shy to even consider submitting a story, but I love that you are continuing to find new ways to write songs and make music. Back in 2013 you also saved your albums from being discarded by your distributor and provided fans the opportunity to obtain them directly from you. You took something that could have been disheartening and turned into something interactive and positive. Thanks for that.

In summation, I feel grateful to be alive during a time period where you are creating and sharing art. Please keep up the good work.

Thanks for everything,
April

RECOMMENDED LISTENING

Higher Power-Swedish Radio P3 Live Session (2007)

Maple Leaves (7” Version)

When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog