Jens Lekman has a new album – his first in eight years – landing next month. It’s called Songs For Other People’s Weddings and appropriately it involves a lot of matrimonial events. The latest offering from it is “Wedding in Leipzig”, about which Lekman says:
“‘Wedding in Leipzig’ is a song that never wanted to end, it just kept writing itself. I think it was 20 minutes long at one point before I started cutting it down. I think I was subconsciously inspired by Lou Reed’s ‘Street Hassle’ when I was writing it.
“In the song we find J, the wedding singer in our story, in a rather desperate and vulnerable state as he makes his way to a wedding gig in Leipzig. There he’s placed at the dreaded singles table, consisting of a bunch of loners and weirdos. And through stories told at the table, he begins to ponder what it means to be alone.”
As you can probably gauge from the above quote, this is absolutely classic Lekman territory; wistful-yet-sardonic, filled with life lessons that come about through unfortunate events and of course delivered in exuberantly arranged pop extravagance. The track sifts through various melodic approaches from jaunty to dancy to balladesque and back again as the story’s chapters unfold, and each is the perfect soundtrack to animate our hapless wedding singer’s voyage through the land of single weirdos.
Watch the lyric video for “Wedding in Lipzig” below or find the track on streamers.
Jens Lekman’s new album Songs For Other People’s Wedding is out on 12 September via Secretly Canadian (pre-order/save). The accompanying book of the same name – co-written with David Levithan – is out today and can be purchased here.
You can find Lekman on Facebook and Instagram.
Live dates:
08/11 – Minneapolis, MN – Amsterdam Bar & Hall
09/11 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
10/11 – Toronto, ON – The Great Hall
12/11 – Boston, MA – The Sinclair
13/11 – Northampton, MA – Iron Horse
14/11 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
16/11 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
17/11 – Washington, D.C. – Union Stage
19/11 – Durham, NC – Motorco Music Hall
21/11 – Atlanta, GA – The EARL
22/11 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
24/11 – Dallas, TX – Deep Ellum
25/11 – Austin, TX – Mohawk
28/11 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
29/11 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room
30/11 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
02/12 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
03/12 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
