Jens Lekman

Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman makes pop music that is both wry and plaintive, not unlike his American counterpart in skeptical romanticism, Magnetic Fields' mastermind Stephen Merritt. Lekman achieved a certain level of stardom in his native country after several years of home recording and self-releasing; however, he remains on the fringes of the pop marketplace in the United States. His 2005 odds-and-sods collection, OH YOU'RE SO SILENT JENS, was released on the tiny Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian.