Jens Lekman: Life Will See You Now – happy-sad Swede goes 1980s

A musician who has always worn his lovelorn heart on his sleeve, Jens Lekman's self-deprecating humour and happy-sad style has won him a multitude of admirers over the course of three albums. The Swede's fourth ponders both life's big questions and its minutiae, with a liberal dash of drollness, as heard on Our First Fight. Lekman also pulls new sounds into his sphere this time, with hints of 1980s bands such as Prefab Sprout on Hotwire the Ferris Wheel, Paul Simon's Graceland on the celebratory Wedding in Finistere, and steel drums on the eminently danceable What's That Perfume That You Wear. The tracklisting falters slightly under the weight of schmaltzy strings, but this is quality, toe-tappy indiepop with a sprinkling of understated glitz. jenslekman.com