Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves [Service]

Swedish pop kid Jens Lekman is a name lovers of intelligent, well-constructed pop music should put into their philofaxes immediately. His debut release for Secretly Canadian is a frequently breathtaking four-song EP that takes inspiration from many sources, chief among them The Magnetic Fields (both vocally and in the toy-town orchestration) with a little Todd Rundgren, Harry Nilsson, and The Smiths thrown in to spice up the stew. The songs on the record are built around what sound like tinny loops of '60s pop songs ("Black Cab"'s intro is a note-perfect copy of The Left Banke's "I've Got Something on My Mind"), full of twinkly bells, chiming guitars, and melancholy strings. Read More