Swedish crooner Jens Lekman is here to put your New Year’s resolutions to shame with his latest project. Over the next year (and in between recording a promised new album), Lekman will be releasing a brand-new song once a week, as part of his ambitious “Postcards” project.
Lekman explained his motivation in a note to his fans:
“Here’s my new years resolution for 2015: While working on my next album, I will sit down once a week, write down my thoughts, turn them into a song and share it with you directly. Think of these little songs as postcards. Little greetings from me to you.
You see, I spend a lot of time on my songs, on their details. I sweep the streets that my characters walk on and polish every doorknob until I feel confident to let other people in. But it does lead to a very isolated creative phase.
And I’ve been longing to share my thoughts and life with you a bit more. I’ve been longing to write about things that make sense one particular day but that might make no sense once the album comes out.
Then at the end of this year we can sit down you and me and listen through these 52 songs, and remember where we were and when we were there, who we kissed and who we missed. I’m looking forward to that.”
His first installment, “Postcard #1” is essentially the thesis statement of this latest endeavor, a snippet of a song recited over dreamlike piano; “When you listen to this its 2015/ even if you listen to this in 2016/ this song is a time machine/ this song is a time machine/ a bookmark in time/ a breadcrumb, a chance to undo what you won’t undo.”
Here’s to Jens sticking with his New Year resolution—it still sounds easier than promising to go to the gym every day.
(via Stereogum)
