"I wanted to make something more minimal..."
“You don’t get over a broken-heart; you just learn to carry it gracefully.”
So counsels Jens Lekman on his latest release, 'I Know What Love Isn’t', a break-up record of gentle grandeur and candid honesty – which puts his relocation, emotions and shattered –to-smithereens heart all out in the open. Putting aside the musical experimentation of his previous records, he instead devotes himself to his lyric sheet – helped along a little by indie heroine Tracey Thorn. Here he spoke to Clash about what it feels like to spill it all out, even if you didn’t intend to…
We’re here to talk about the new record, 'I Know What Love Isn’t'; your first album in 4 years. Why the hiatus?
Well, I think that this was the first time that I felt like I was truly ‘making an album’. I think that the previous records were more like love songs – the last record I made was even put together by my friends, like a little mini-Eurovision song contest going on where they could all vote for their favourite song. But this time, the album was telling me that it wanted to be a very consistent product. It took a while to figure out the dramaturgy of the album – or the theme that would be running through it.
You’ve said before you didn’t want to do a ‘broken hearts and heavy stuff’ record but it’s still pretty soul-searching. Did you set out to explore heartbreak in the studio or did it evolve when you got there?
I didn’t want to make a record about love or breakups, or anything like that – so it was me trying to go against the direction, the stream of the album and then having to give up eventually.
I tried a new approach to what I had done before and tried to write to see where it would take me. I tried to write more abstract, more freely and I was hoping that it would take me somewhere new. Eventually, of course, it just took me back to the start. The music controls me more than I control it.
It both opens and closes on “Every Little Hair Knows Your Name”. Why so?
Oh yes. I just wanted to ‘bookend’ – like in a bookshelf. I just liked the idea of having the same song open and close the album. It’s been kind of complicated, because apparently Spotify and things like that, wanted to call it ‘Intro’ and ‘Outro’ which to me – aesthetically – isn’t right. It’s taken a bit of refining to get it as it is now.
Can you tell me about the sentiment behind ‘The End of the World is Bigger than Love'? Would you say you’re slightly more cynical about love now?
Yeah, but I think everyone is when they come out of a break-up. It’s almost like a luxury that you can allow yourself for a while. I still believe in love but I think it’s something that you can use, and I believe that that was important to portray. I think, to me 'The End…', is definitely a song of hope. It’s about – it’s like when you’re playing a video game, and you see the little character go through Hell…..walk right into a pit of fire and you’re just sitting there with the controller…….I like that idea of seeing yourself from above and watching your petty problems.
Jens Lekman - Erica America
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When writing– where do you draw the line? Did you consider leaving out any details, like the planned sham marriage?
Well, that would have been a necessity if I had gone through with the sham marriage! You’d have to keep your mouth shut about that forever, which doesn’t really work when stories are what you do. But of course, I leave a lot of private details out. I change things, I change names and I always ask people who I sing about if I can sing about them. I think music becomes more important if you put family and friends first.
Aside from the lyrical content, you’ve restricted the amount of sounds/textures that you use musically – why is that?
Maybe because I felt like I’d used every colour and sound that I liked on the previous record. You are constantly faced with the situation of evolving as an artist, and I feel it’s more interesting to subtract rather than to add. And I think I had all the colours that I needed already. I wanted to make something more minimal.
Tracey Thorn dedicated the song 'Oh, The Divorces' to you which seems to have been a bit of a turning point. Has she always been an inspiration to you?
Yeah, and that was the funny thing about the song. It came to me at a time when I was changing a lot, and my songs were changing too. The song looks at love from a mid-life perspective, and then there’s me: looking at it from a young perspective. And it’s kind of, portraying me as this young and hopeless romantic, you know?
I think that that’s very interesting, because I have listened to her music since I was a teenager and that’s where I got my inspirations from, from her and her music. And in a way, I think she was looking at herself as a person – and a young person too - through referencing me.
Didn’t you collaborate on a few tracks which didn’t make the cut?
We’ve recorded a few songs which she has released, and we did record one song that didn’t make it because I just want to keep it for myself. It’s my song. I listen to it sometimes, in the evening. It’s just nice to have the song for myself and to keep it for me.
Have you played the tracks live yet? What’s the reception been like?
I played a few of them live, the last few years, just to try them out. I really liked the idea that they are filling this dimension which I was missing before. I don’t have anything against my older songs, I love playing them, but I feel like the new songs bring this really nice mix with more introspective, fresher songs. I still love the classics; they have their place in the show too.
What’s next from Jens Lekman?
Touring every little hole in every little part and corner of the world for the next year or so.
From September onwards!
Words by Marianne Gallagher
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'I Know What Love Isn't' is out on September 3rd.
So counsels Jens Lekman on his latest release, 'I Know What Love Isn’t', a break-up record of gentle grandeur and candid honesty – which puts his relocation, emotions and shattered –to-smithereens heart all out in the open. Putting aside the musical experimentation of his previous records, he instead devotes himself to his lyric sheet – helped along a little by indie heroine Tracey Thorn. Here he spoke to Clash about what it feels like to spill it all out, even if you didn’t intend to…
We’re here to talk about the new record, 'I Know What Love Isn’t'; your first album in 4 years. Why the hiatus?
Well, I think that this was the first time that I felt like I was truly ‘making an album’. I think that the previous records were more like love songs – the last record I made was even put together by my friends, like a little mini-Eurovision song contest going on where they could all vote for their favourite song. But this time, the album was telling me that it wanted to be a very consistent product. It took a while to figure out the dramaturgy of the album – or the theme that would be running through it.
You’ve said before you didn’t want to do a ‘broken hearts and heavy stuff’ record but it’s still pretty soul-searching. Did you set out to explore heartbreak in the studio or did it evolve when you got there?
I didn’t want to make a record about love or breakups, or anything like that – so it was me trying to go against the direction, the stream of the album and then having to give up eventually.
I tried a new approach to what I had done before and tried to write to see where it would take me. I tried to write more abstract, more freely and I was hoping that it would take me somewhere new. Eventually, of course, it just took me back to the start. The music controls me more than I control it.
It both opens and closes on “Every Little Hair Knows Your Name”. Why so?
Oh yes. I just wanted to ‘bookend’ – like in a bookshelf. I just liked the idea of having the same song open and close the album. It’s been kind of complicated, because apparently Spotify and things like that, wanted to call it ‘Intro’ and ‘Outro’ which to me – aesthetically – isn’t right. It’s taken a bit of refining to get it as it is now.
Can you tell me about the sentiment behind ‘The End of the World is Bigger than Love'? Would you say you’re slightly more cynical about love now?
Yeah, but I think everyone is when they come out of a break-up. It’s almost like a luxury that you can allow yourself for a while. I still believe in love but I think it’s something that you can use, and I believe that that was important to portray. I think, to me 'The End…', is definitely a song of hope. It’s about – it’s like when you’re playing a video game, and you see the little character go through Hell…..walk right into a pit of fire and you’re just sitting there with the controller…….I like that idea of seeing yourself from above and watching your petty problems.
Jens Lekman - Erica America
- - -
When writing– where do you draw the line? Did you consider leaving out any details, like the planned sham marriage?
Well, that would have been a necessity if I had gone through with the sham marriage! You’d have to keep your mouth shut about that forever, which doesn’t really work when stories are what you do. But of course, I leave a lot of private details out. I change things, I change names and I always ask people who I sing about if I can sing about them. I think music becomes more important if you put family and friends first.
Aside from the lyrical content, you’ve restricted the amount of sounds/textures that you use musically – why is that?
Maybe because I felt like I’d used every colour and sound that I liked on the previous record. You are constantly faced with the situation of evolving as an artist, and I feel it’s more interesting to subtract rather than to add. And I think I had all the colours that I needed already. I wanted to make something more minimal.
Tracey Thorn dedicated the song 'Oh, The Divorces' to you which seems to have been a bit of a turning point. Has she always been an inspiration to you?
Yeah, and that was the funny thing about the song. It came to me at a time when I was changing a lot, and my songs were changing too. The song looks at love from a mid-life perspective, and then there’s me: looking at it from a young perspective. And it’s kind of, portraying me as this young and hopeless romantic, you know?
I think that that’s very interesting, because I have listened to her music since I was a teenager and that’s where I got my inspirations from, from her and her music. And in a way, I think she was looking at herself as a person – and a young person too - through referencing me.
Didn’t you collaborate on a few tracks which didn’t make the cut?
We’ve recorded a few songs which she has released, and we did record one song that didn’t make it because I just want to keep it for myself. It’s my song. I listen to it sometimes, in the evening. It’s just nice to have the song for myself and to keep it for me.
Have you played the tracks live yet? What’s the reception been like?
I played a few of them live, the last few years, just to try them out. I really liked the idea that they are filling this dimension which I was missing before. I don’t have anything against my older songs, I love playing them, but I feel like the new songs bring this really nice mix with more introspective, fresher songs. I still love the classics; they have their place in the show too.
What’s next from Jens Lekman?
Touring every little hole in every little part and corner of the world for the next year or so.
From September onwards!
Words by Marianne Gallagher
- - -
'I Know What Love Isn't' is out on September 3rd.
Jens Lekman
