Music / Reviews
Review: Jens Lekman, Strange Brew – ‘It’s a musical, it’s a story, it’s compelling’
It all started in 2004 when Jens Lekman sang: “If you ever need a stranger to sing at your wedding, a last-minute choice, I’m your man”.
Except he’s no longer a last-minute choice, he is a wedding singer, meeting couples and writing them a song before performing it at their wedding.
20 years on from that initial lyric he’s written a book, along with David Levithan, and an album entitled Songs for Other People’s Weddings.
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When this gig was announced it leapt off the page: seeing the Swedish singer-songwriter in this country doesn’t happen that often. Lekman is one of my favourite lyricists of all time.
How will this work? It’s all made clear as ex-tour manager Reese leads the band dressed in wedding attire.
Book in hand, he starts the narration of a love story contained within the book between characters J (Lekman) and V (Hannah on keys). He dramatically sets the scene with his expressive, deep voice, revealing this to be no normal gig. It’s a musical. It’s a story. It’s compelling.
The band is dressed formally, in wedding attire
Lekman steps into the fray dressed distinctively, distinguished and dapper. He’s aptly all in white, as he opens with the sweet and tender First Love Song.
People may have been wondering why the bass player has a life-sized puppet in a tuxedo attached to his outfit. All becomes clear as the mood lifts with jaunty piano-led A Tuxedo for Two tells the tale of a couple who got married in one giant tuxedo.
The whole show is a playful and tender tribute to love, its importance and what it feels like to observe love and crave it while your heart is simultaneously breaking.
Lekman plays from his latest album, Songs for Other People’s Weddings
The set echoes this sentiment: songs shoot out in sheer joy, with proclamations of eternal love. I expect wedding confetti guns to fly in the air and a bouquet to land at my feet during Candy From a Stranger.
The highs are very high, and the lows give time for reflection. Songs to whistle to with a tear in your eye.
On a Pier, On the Hudson sees a change of tack. It’s a pure 90’s dance banger, with Hannah ditching keys and performing a long, leather tassel-swaying dance routine to end, singing back-to-back with Lekman. A sad tale to dance to.
On a Pier, On the Hudson is a dance track with a melancholy story at its core
Reese is back to introduce the last dance – well, the Last Lovesong. Before we have time to reflect on what has just happened, they are back on stage. “At weddings I play two shows: you’ve had the ceremony, now this is the party!”
The Opposite of Hallelujah takes us out of fiction and into a wondrous reality where, for the next half hour, Lekman hits us with hits, keeping the tempo as quick as his wit. You can tell who the big fans are now as the crowd get to singing the songs we all wanted to hear.
Lekman’s lyrics tug at the heartstrings
Wedding In Finistere is ridiculously fun. What’s That Perfume is disco bliss. Postcard of Nina, introduced as being for anyone going through a tough time, is dripping with silky keys and one-liners, ending with the takeaway positivity of the repeated refrain: “Don’t let anyone get in your way.”
Finally, Black Cab soothes the souls of a hyped crowd, offering a gentle come down with Lekman dropping the mic and singing with us until the end.
Come back soon to Bristol. Yours truly, Matthew Barnes
All images: Matt Barnes
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