"Washington, D.C., meet Jens Lekman," the Swedish indie-pop singer said as he began his energy packed show for a sold-out audience of mostly college-aged students and couples at the Black Cat on Wednesday night. "Jens Lekman, meet Washington, D.C."
Marla Hansen, a Wisconsin native who has worked with artists like Sufjan Stevens and The New Pornographers, performed first with slow melodic songs accompanied by a violin.
Next, Mikael Carlsson, a singer/songwriter known as the Honeydrips, took the stage. A Gothenburg, Sweden native like Lekman, Carlsson's indie-pop style has a heavier dose of electronica than that of his hometown comrade. Carlsson sang solo throughout his electronica-driven set, leaving his electric guitar hanging uselessly across his chest. By performance's end, much of the audience's interest was lost.
However, Lekman quickly recaptured the listeners' attention with his commanding lyrics in "I Am Leaving You, Because I Don't Love You" a cappella. A few lyrics later, he jumped into the catchy and poppy "Opposite of Hallelujah" with the instrumental backup of his equally energetic band mates, all donning matching key ring necklaces.
"It makes me want to hug someone," one male audience member said after hearing the singer's opening medley. Lekman's contagiously happy lyrics tend to have this effect on his audience members and mark the true power of Lekman's musical talent.
Lekman primarily played songs from his third and most recent album, "Night Falls Over Kortedala," released in October 2007. The album has gotten widespread publicity in Sweden, where Lekman is a winner of several Swedish Grammy awards and has topped the Swedish Billboard charts.
Lekman's transition from slower, introspective ballads to funky and bouncy choruses embodies the breadth of his indie-pop range, which has been compared to such artists as Belle and Sebastian, Morrissey and Jonathan Richman.
The 27-year-old makes the music all his own, basing his lyrics on personal anecdotes from past experiences. For example, his newest album title is based on Kortedala, a small "miserable town" in Sweden where Lekman said he lived before he went on tour. He said because there wasn't much to do in the town, it allowed him time to introspect and create an album about "new directions" filled with "songs of triumph."
One of these "songs of triumph" is "A Postcard to Nina," in which Lekman describes how he acted like the boyfriend of his lesbian friend Nina at her request while visiting her father in Berlin. At the song's end, Lekman encourages Nina to just be herself, saying "Don't let anyone stand in your way."
Lekman and his band really got the audience moving as the concert continued. "A Sweet Summer Night On Hammer Hill" featuring such uplifting and catchy lyrics as "Bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp! Can't you hear the beat of my heart?" made both the band and audience members alike sing and bounce along to the energetic lyrics.
Other humorous performances by Lekman and his band members included running around like airplanes during a musical interlude and miming playing musical instruments in the air.
During Lekman's first encore, he sang "Friday Night At Drive-In Bingo," which he described as "the silliest song I've ever written." Marked by fast-paced lyrics such as "we could...take on hippie names, I'd be Snowphish, you'd be Sunny, we could start a little farm with little white bunnies just cause watching them copulate is very funny," it was a surefire Lekman crowd-pleaser.
When he left the stage, the audience continued a round of loud applause, until he returned for a second encore, saying "I haven't slept for three days, but if you keep clapping, I'll keep playing."
Lekman appeared alone on stage for his final song, drawing on the audience's participation to create the rhythm for "Pocketful of Money." Lekman repeated the lyrics "I'll come running with a heart on fire" to the audience's beat of clapping, snapping and whistling, leaving the listeners both enchanted and wanting more of Lekman's soulful lyrics.
