Sipping on sweet Scandinavian bliss

The man strums his guitar gently, making sure it's tuned, sometimes glancing at the young audience staring back at him attentively.

He wears a necklace, with a sizable golden key as pendant, on which his name is neatly engraved in capital letters, JENS LEKMAN.

He would later explain that the pendant was made by an Italian fan, who happened to be a craftsman. He said he had brought with him a bunch of the same keys, to giveaway or sell.

That day, March 26, Lekman performed at a secret show staged at a small clothes shop in Bandung, West Java, one day before he opened for fellow Scandinavian duo, the Kings of Convenience.

The show wasn't at all packed, which could mean either people were tight-lipped about the gig, or Lekman was not yet a star in this corner of the world. Lekman quipped that he was more famous for contracting swine flu in his hometown in Angered, Sweden, than for his songs.

For years, Lekman stayed as an obscure figure in the pop scene. This changed with the release of Oh You're So Silent Jens, a compilation of previously released singles and B-sides, in 2005, which received wider critical acclaim compared to his debut, When I Said I Wanted to be Your Dog.

The unpretentious witticism of his lyrics, a unique blend of lo-fi tones and record samples, deeply rooted in the indie-pop scene, command adoration from fans.

He has been compared with Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields for his deadpan delivery, Morrissey for his melodrama and humor, and Belle and Sebastian for their intricate arrangements and twee sensibility.

At the secret show, Lekman played without a band, accompanied only by backing vocalist-cum-bongo-player known as Rachel.

He kicked off the show with "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar", the second track from his 2007 album, Night Falls Over Kortedala. It tells the story of a first kiss and the lingering thought of it. "I take a sip. I let it wet my lips. I think back on that kiss.I gotta start sipping on the sweet nectar," he wails.

Soon after the first song's conclusion, Lekman climbed onto a white chair, elevating him above the crowd. "The next song is a new one, it's titled *The End of the World Is Bigger than Love'," he said. What he didn't know was that some in the crowd had the yet-to-be-released piece on their iPods - thanks to the big bad Web.

He ended the gig with his hit, "The Opposite of Hallelujah", which was strong enough to break the silence of the customarily shy Indonesian audience.

The big concert transpired the next day, when Lekman, Jakarta's own White Shoes & the Couples Company, and the Kings of Convenience delivered their performances.

The concert, however, kicked off to an awful start, the left side of the main speakers had its membrane blown out. The crowd noticed this from the start when the first act, White Shoes, was playing. Some people were cursing how the rest of the concert would be spoiled by one painful technical glitch.

To their surprise, Lekman's playing, regardless of a shaky beginning, showed them that it was possible to muddle through the sound-system situation, albeit he was on stage without a full band, only Rachel on the bongo and occasional laptop generated sounds.

It appears that Lekman has his own way of creating vibes.

Once again, he played "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar" as his first song, something that would be rehashed for the gig the next day in Jakarta. For his second song, Lekman gave a minimalist rendition of "A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill", and gone were the drums, trumpet and other instruments heard on the actual record.

For some, this came off as a tad boring. "I was expecting more from him," an audience member said.

Even so, his playing seemed blissful to a few thankful souls whose faces lit-up as they broke the silence by singing along, "... Can you hear the beat of my heart? Bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp! "

At one point, Lekman told the audience that it was his mom's birthday. He called her using his cellphone, wishing her a happy birthday, telling her how much he loved her, and then politely asking the audience to sing her Happy Birthday.

He directed his cellphone to the audience, who indulged him kindly.

There was another special event that night, Earth Hour. For the sake of environmental education, he played "And I Remember the First Kiss" with the lights turned off. The audience appreciated it, so was Eirik Glambek Boe and Erlend Oye of the Kings of Convenience, they did the same thing when they took the stage.

The duo from Bergen, Norway, needless to say, is big in Indonesia, no longer only amongst the cool kids. Approximately 1,300 concert tickets for Bandung and 3,300 tickets for Jakarta were sold out within a week.

Having them for the second time in Indonesia was, of course, a different experience. Just as the saying goes, "the first cut is the deepest".

Plus, fans have dubbed their latest album "quieter is the new quiet", a pun inspired by their debut album, Quiet is the New Loud, because it abandoned additional instruments that Riot On An Empty Street, their second album, had. Naturally, the audience was expecting the concert to be "quieter".

But judging Declaration of Dependence as "quieter" is an understatement as the album combines so much, including sharper lyrics and a newfound political activism. Moreover, the duo remains steadfast in their minimalist acoustic-pop style and resisted the temptation to lighten up, as indicated by Oye's solo work with the Whitest Boy Alive, which borders on being a dance record.

Somber yet bewitching could be the most fitting adjectives to better describe the atmosphere of the duo's performance. The audience in Bandung testified to a majestic performance from the two, saying it was the best and most intimate musical experience they had experienced in years, and that the sound mishap was irrelevant to the blend of their masterful acoustic guitar playing and sedative voices, so perfectly poised, so deceptively depressing.

"I don't know how they did it, but they took the problem into their hands and turned it into gold," said Oye's Indonesian friend.

The concert in Jakarta was equally gratifying but with better sound quality and a louder crowd. The first song they played was "24-25", the first track on their last album. The song tells a story of the deep and platonic relationship between the two as shown in phrases such as "She'll be gone soon, you can have me for yourself ... What we built is bigger, than the sum of two," eerily similar to "I can't stop listening to two soft voices blending in perfection" in "Homesick", the first track in their second album, which was the last song they played at both concerts.

The show in Jakarta was not all solemn and austere, Oye was always the goof with his silly jokes and gestures, and they enjoyed improvising. The two jammed with Ricky Surya Virgana (bass guitar) and John Navid (drums) of the White Shoes, playing two absolutely danceable songs, "I Can Never Belong to You" and "I'd Rather Dance With You". The crowd went wild.

The only time things became crazier was when Oye played solo, covering White Shoes' masterpiece, singing "Bersandar, menusuk jiwa ... Bersandar menusuk jiwa, menusuk jiwa ini ... Berharap seribu kasih namun kini punahlah sudah." Watching him sing in Bahasa Indonesia a hauntingly beautiful song was priceless.

For those who were present at the show, it was a night that stood out in this - as a poet once put it - unhappy planet. Quiet it may have been, but it was a night to remember.

Source : The Jakarta Post