Betraying roots in Jonathan Richman’s brand of hangdog self-parodic miserabilism (“I Know What Love Isn’t”) and fascination for the topical (“I Saw Her in the Anti War Demonstration”), Jens Lekman has emerged as one of my favorite singer-songwriters of the last decade. I had problems with the Swede at first — the voice, steeped in dolor, required lighter tannins, so to speak. But 2012’s I Know What Love Isn’t won me over in the same way a person’s tics become the stepping stones to a relationship, and last year’s Life Will See You Now wowed me with with its melodic sumptuousness. Lekman’s got a sense of humor about his querulousness, I wrote five years ago. He’s one of those artists for whom I could come up with a different dozen favorites tomorrow or Monday.
1. The Opposite of Hallelujah
2. Some Dandruff on Your Shoulder
3. The World Moves On
4. A Postcard to Nina
5. Hotwire the Ferris Wheel
6. Become Someone Else’s
7. Wedding in Finistère
8. The End of the World Is Bigger than Love
9. I Know What Love Isn’t
10. You Are the Light (By Which I Travel into This and That)
11. Our First Fight
12. I Saw Her in the Anti War Demonstration
Humanizing The Vacuum 