Jens Lekman

Fruktbar—that’s Swedish for “fruitful” or “productive.” It describes crooner Jens Lekman well. In 2004 alone, the 22-year-old songwriter has released three EPs, plus an album, When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog (all on Secretly Canadian), with virtually no overlap. (Only two songs surface twice, most notably the stunning, arms-wide-open “You Are The Light.”)

Lekman’s lyrical facility rivals such greats as Nöel Coward, Morrissey and Stephin Merritt (on “The Cold Swedish Winter” Lekman couples “wrong idea” with “gonorrhea”). How did a native of Göteborg, Sweden, master English so thoroughly? As a child, the VCR was his babysitter, and he favored American movies, admits Lekman. “But that can hardly have anything to do with it, or I would talk like Roger Rabbit.”

A la the aforementioned artists, keen humor also distinguishes Lekman’s craft, even when addressing heartbreak or political turmoil. “If I can find something absurd in a situation, something I can laugh at, then I can untie that knot, and it will feel better.”

Lekman plans to keep churning out releases quickly, focusing primarily on EPs. “I feel extremely uncomfortable with records that are longer than 25 minutes,” he explains. “It’s like going to a show where the band plays for more than an hour: I just get bored and go home with a strained neck.”