Sweden Serves Up a New Pop Sensation

Get ready for a new Swedish invasion—Slate writer Stephen Metcalf says pop musician Jens Lekman is about the best thing ever (and his 4-year-old daughter thinks so, too). Lekman is strongly influenced by Stephin Merritt, Morrissey, and Belle and Sebastian, but he is still "a different bird," Metcalf writes, adding that "each of his full-length records is its own masterpiece."

The Slate critic points to the power of the lust and longing that pervades the Swede's clever lyrics, and words can barely contain his enthusiasm . “It’s impossible to exaggerate how good, just how damn good, this song is,” he writes of Lekman’s breakout tune “Maple Leaves.” (More Jens Lekman stories.)