Jens Lekman
Really, to me, a really good evening would be a comedian, followed by a band, followed by a really good DJ.
There's so much nostalgia for music from the past.
I don't want music to be a museum.
One of the nice things about songwriting is you can be inspired by absolutely anything.
Summer is always best through a window.
I start writing songs first as an entertainer, and I like funny stories that wrap up with dignity.
I need to write a sitcom, but something with warmth, not one where the dad comes home and he's treated like an idiot.
Australia's beautiful, but I'm not too into Australian culture.
My songs don't deal with locations that specifically, even if there are very specific references to them in there; they're sort of just where stories happen, not the stories themselves.
My old songs used to take place in Gothenburg; then, when I lived in Melbourne, the songs just naturally took place more in Melbourne.
Once I release a song, it's not just about me or the people... I write about. They're my stories, but they're not really mine any more.
I have a very nice voice.
I think a lot of my songs are very silly and very stupid, written to entertain people, but in the end, I always come to that last line, and I feel that I have to wrap this up with a bit of dignity and a little tear in the eye; otherwise, the joke would be on the characters in the song.
Some very silly songs can have an almost melancholy feeling when you put it in a different perspective.
I realised that music controls me more than I control music. I had to write songs that were convincing me that things would get better.
When I was working on 'Night Falls Over Kortedala,' I was listening a lot to 'Graceland,' the Paul Simon record. I really got into the lyrics on that album. The opening line is so brilliant, the way he sets the scene.
I've started listening to music in a new way after I started running. When it comes to running, I really got into the idea of track listings that way, too.
I remember when I grew up and Dad would take me to kindergarten in the morning, and you could smell the chips in the air from the factory nearby.
When it comes to heartbreaks and disappointments, I often have to be more or less done with them to be able to write about them. Then you might ask why I would write about them at all, but I think I owe it to the Jens of the past.
I think of the Jens Lekman in the songs as a completely different person who's stealing my stories.
I think that's a responsibility I have, to not leave the listener with complete dread or depressing, dark thoughts, but to leave a little door open so that you can dance your way out if you want to.
I try and take it for what it is, and I'm very at peace with the fact that when I'm done with the songs, they don't belong to me anymore. They belong to the listeners.
Hmm... at some point when I was making 'Postcards,' it struck me, what the underlying themes for the record would be. It would be about choices, fears and doubts, and it had an existentialist theme to it.
Making albums is a very lonely process sometimes. Sitting around working on songs, feeling the pressure.
It's good to let go of control. That's probably something all artists and song writers will say at some point.
It's not difficult getting into the charts in Sweden. It's a very different musical climate, and in a very good way, I think, because artists like Jose Gonzalez or The Knife can actually get on the charts.
I actually have all these tapes, from when I was five, from when I was 10, and from when I was 15, that don't really have to do anything with each other, but they're sort of archeological in my musical history.
When I was a kid, I had a period in my life when I was eight or nine when I was so scared of dying that I wouldn't go out of our house for a whole year. I refused to step out of the door because I thought something would happen. I had all these compulsive thoughts or whatever, and my head was really messed up.
I really do believe in clearing samples, and I believe that people should be compensated for them, but the laws are just so stupid.
I wanted to write songs about other people because I was sick of myself, basically. I didn't like myself very much. 'Ghostwriting' became an outlet for that. And then I could get back to get Jens Lekman again.
'Postcards' was just a way of slapping myself in the face and saying, 'You can do anything! Just go for it!'
I realize that 'Postcards' was like input, and 'Ghostwriting' was output. I had all these frustrations and feelings before I did those two projects. 'Postcards' was something that brought new life and creative inspiration into the record, while 'Ghostwriting' was relieving myself.
It's weird talking about the album as a living being with its own thoughts and direction, especially if you're the one creating it.
The 'sent' folder of my email program is really my biggest inspiration and my biggest source of lyrics. That's where I go to pick up a lot of the lyrics that I'm writing.
I really love the idea of stepping into another character and being able to sing maybe stuff that is not my thought and my own opinions, but be able to portray someone else and take a walk in their shoes for a while.
I found a favorite chord, which is B flat 7 - that's my favorite chord.
Ever since I started writing music, I've wanted to know what the songs are about and to be able to tell stories.
I think there are definitely a lot of subjects I don't share with people, but I'm not sure where that border is.
In the past, I used to rely on the randomness of working with samples, which was a good way because it threw you in a completely different direction. You just thought, 'What if I take this samba drum and combined it with an '80s synth line or something from this record?'
I love playing small towns, but in Sweden, it's sometimes a little bit weird, because all small towns are just so close to bigger cities that people are not as grateful when you show up as they are in Odessa, Texas.
I'm not too fond of the typical Australian activities or culture. I'm not into surfing - that's what I'm trying to say.
I like short beards. Not a big fan of the bigger beards.
Older men in my family - back to my grandpa - were basically completely bald.
I think, in a world of mouths, I want to be an ear.
I think South Korea was one of the best shows I've ever done in my whole life. The people there were crazy. It was literally Beatlemania.
Of the times that I've been able to overcome a fear, it's been by making it something that I can understand, that I can hold on to - just something that's more tangible.
I think a lot of my anxieties and fears are things that are very abstract.
The whole thing with playing on a stage with mics and all that has always been kind of uncomfortable to me.
Getting my hair cut is just a very special moment for me. I don't know exactly why, but it's such an intimate, almost religious experience. I'm very careful with who gets to cut my hair.