Jens Lekman

“I love playing small towns, but in Sweden, it's sometimes a little bit weird, because all small towns are just so close to bigger cities that people are not as grateful when you show up as they are in Odessa, Texas.”

“A lot of my songs are written prophetically: I write something, and then I make it happen.”

“Summer is always best through a window.”

“I wanted to write songs about other people because I was sick of myself, basically. I didn't like myself very much. 'Ghostwriting' became an outlet for that. And then I could get back to get Jens Lekman again.”

“I found a favorite chord, which is B flat 7 - that's my favorite chord.”

“I've started listening to music in a new way after I started running. When it comes to running, I really got into the idea of track listings that way, too.”

“It's not difficult getting into the charts in Sweden. It's a very different musical climate, and in a very good way, I think, because artists like Jose Gonzalez or The Knife can actually get on the charts.”

“I start writing songs first as an entertainer, and I like funny stories that wrap up with dignity.”

“I've established a certain voice over my albums. It can be an obstacle, but in the end, I think it's a strength, because I can build upon that voice, which is ultimately very much mine.”

“Christmas music is usually more concentrated pop music in a way. It's meant to make us feel good, and it's meant to make us like we belong somewhere.”

“I have this part in myself that sometimes gets me into situations that can never end well, just because I want to prove to myself that I'm no good.”

“Hmm... at some point when I was making 'Postcards,' it struck me, what the underlying themes for the record would be. It would be about choices, fears and doubts, and it had an existentialist theme to it.”

“Getting my hair cut is just a very special moment for me. I don't know exactly why, but it's such an intimate, almost religious experience. I'm very careful with who gets to cut my hair.”

“In the past, I used to rely on the randomness of working with samples, which was a good way because it threw you in a completely different direction. You just thought, 'What if I take this samba drum and combined it with an '80s synth line or something from this record?'”

“I had a drummer in my band who started teaching me tricks to come up with interesting rhythms. Because I don't come from a musical background, I've never studied music, and I don't know music theory at all, so a lot of stuff I discover on my own are things students would learn in the first grade of music.”

“I have mood swings, but I'm sure people in England have that, too. Me and my friends, we're just a bunch of happy idiots.”

“I need to write a sitcom, but something with warmth, not one where the dad comes home and he's treated like an idiot.”

“This is one of the reasons I'm so interested in stories. Because everyone has a story in their life, and when their story doesn't make sense, that's when we get depressed, I think.”

“The idea of printing out something that's as scary as a tumor into its concrete form was something that spoke to me - there is something very liberating about that idea.”

“I actually have all these tapes, from when I was five, from when I was 10, and from when I was 15, that don't really have to do anything with each other, but they're sort of archeological in my musical history.”