I was trying to actively get away from music, I guess. But I recorded a whole bunch of instrumental piano songs.
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 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 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 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 LekmanSometimes 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 Lekman