Sometimes it's not like I write very specific, it's more like I add an atmosphere almost to something that might have been quite awkward in my mind from the beginning. Something has happened and I want to force myself to think of it in a more positive way. And then I force myself to write something that convinces me that this is actually something pretty good or something that I learned something valuable from.
Jens LekmanI started playing bass in my friend's band for some reason. It was just something I did because, well, he asked me if I wanted to play bass and he played me this song - Nirvana's version of "Molly's Lips", the Vaselines song - and he said, "You can do this! This is not hard!" and it's like a two-note song. I learned that and then I thought I was a genius.
Jens LekmanI really think I need to find a home. I don't know if that includes a girlfriend or not, but first I need to find a home, definitely.
Jens LekmanI make a living from storytelling - if you're a public person and you sing songs about getting married to get a visa, and you are actually doing that, you're gonna end up in trouble.
Jens LekmanI think all of my songs are either based on personal experience or will be based on personal experience, because I do write a lot of songs prophetically.
Jens LekmanI lived in a suitcase for a year, and then a relationship brought me to New York for about four months, then I lived in Melbourne. Then I moved back to Gothenburg because the immigrant laws are strict for both Australia and the U.S., and I would have to marry someone to get into those countries. But I wouldn't really be able to get involved in a sham marriage without being able to tell anyone about it.
Jens LekmanI wanted to create a more spontaneous outlet for my songwriting to have alongside the more long-winded process of making an album. I wanted to have some fun.
Jens LekmanThe beauty of the collage technique is that you're using sounds that have never met and were never supposed to meet. You introduce them to each other, at first they're a bit shy, clumsy, staring at their shoes. But you can sense there's something there. So you cut and paste a little bit and by the end of the song you can spot them in the corner, holding hands.
Jens LekmanI didn't have a home in the world, so I wanted a home in a person. I felt like I had found that, and then it was taken away from me.
Jens LekmanI wanted the album to be aerodynamic, like an airplane taking off from a runway - all of a sudden you're in the air.
Jens LekmanI was trying to actively get away from music, I guess. But I recorded a whole bunch of instrumental piano songs.
Jens LekmanI kind of like polishing the songs that I'm working on. I'm really working hard on some specific songs.
Jens LekmanFamily and friends always need to be bigger than your music career, and in that sense, your music will be bigger because you respect your family and your friends more.
Jens LekmanI could've written songs about, for example, the Paris attacks as they happened and have the song out the day after, but doing this project and following the news made me realize how much I miss deeper nuances in the news reporting. There's already so many quick opinions and angles being thrown in your face, so I avoided writing about things like that and tried focusing on the smaller, more seemingly insignificant things. The things you would find in the back of the newspaper or the back of your mind.
Jens LekmanI 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.
Jens LekmanI don't have a girlfriend. No, I don't. I haven't had a relationship in years, actually. But yeah, I'm still looking. It's kind of nice to be looking for a home at the same time.
Jens LekmanWhen I performed the songs in front of an audience at the end of each project and I knew the storytellers were in the crowd listening, that was hard.
Jens LekmanWhen I went through the break-up, I really looked for some kind of music, or art or literature that could say, "I've been in the same situation." I couldn't find anything at the moment, and that made me really sad.
Jens LekmanI think to find an escape route out of a music industry that is becoming more and more focused on making money.
Jens LekmanActually, I caught myself thinking that I was hoping for someone to break into my apartment and steal my computer, or a big fire would take place in my apartment, or thinking of uninstalling my firewall so someone could hack into my computer. I just had all these dreams and eventually realized what I needed to do was delete the songs because I really wasn't happy with them. I needed a fresh beginning.
Jens LekmanI had so many songs that were actually sort of finished. And I deleted them. I wrote on my website that I'd put them on the shelf, but that wasn't true. I actually deleted them from my computer. I got sort of trigger-happy and I think I deleted about 200 songs from my computer.
Jens LekmanI think the cynicism that you have when you've just gone through a break-up is a luxury that you allow yourself for a while.
Jens LekmanI must admit that it seems like my mind really reconstructs some things, and in a very - I just know that it seems like some things are not as I remembered them when I do some investigation.
Jens Lekman