Video: Jens Lekman, ‘Erica America’

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Jens Lekman will return with a new album titled “I Know What Love Isn’t” on Sept. 4 via Secretly Canadian, but our first taste of the the follow-up to his EP, “An Argument With Myself,” seems rather somber. Melodrama is nothing new for the Swedish crooner, but the sentiments on the record’s first single, “Erica America,” go far beyond illustrating the album title. The dichotomy of the ballad is painted with delicate pop-jazz melodies, and Lekman’s peculiar melancholy prevails with lyrics like “Summer is exhausting me with its exhaust fumes and empty promises.” The Mark Soderland-directed video is beautifully shot with the empty warehouse, perhaps, serving as a metaphor for his broken heart. Until we hear the rest of his record, it’s hard to tell whether there will be tunes that stem from the other end of the emotional spectrum. But here’s hoping it does, because it’s hard not to miss the Jens Lekman with a full head of hair and dressed in white from head to toe when there’s this much melancholy.

||| Live: Jens Lekman plays Nov. 6 at the Fonda with Taken By Trees.