Take first single What’s That Perfume That You Wear?, which bubbles along courtesy of Calypso-style steel drums (sampled from 1978 song The Path). Apparently, it’s a song about love lost, but a taut funk beat, major chords and sense of fun provide a mood that suggests escape rather than despair.
Elsewhere, Lekman employs hand-claps and trippy textures (Hotwire The Ferris Wheel), drum machine syncopation (Our First Fight) and chiming mandolin (How Can I Tell Him) to keep his audience guessing.
• Jens Lekman. Life Will See You Now. Secretly Canadian.
• Three stars (out of five)
Single download: Postcard #17
For those who like: Wham! Beck
— Shane Gilchrist
