On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of seeing Jens Lekman at Union Chapel, in London. Considering the church setting, it felt very much like a cult gathering at times. Nothing wrong with that. There were some new tracks and a selection of classic Lekman songs. Jens, has also started wearing a gold key, which were available to purchase, and were something to do with the cult thing I expect. His live show is excellent. Quirky, playfull, and his voice is just so good, it’s unbelievable. How many octaves?
I must mention the support act, The Blow, which is basically Khaela Maricich. She tells the story of how she was commissioned to write songs for a famous Lesbian, and then goes on to perform them in her own idiosyncratic style. It’s more performance art and the tone reminded me a lot of Miranda July. She also writes a great pop song, some nifty dance moves and a lovely voice.
Anyway, I digress, back to Jens. When he played, your arms around me, I was reminded of the ukulele version of the song but also of his very funny quote regarding the ukulele.
“It’s become another beardo instrument. If there’s two things I will never do, it would be grow a beard and pick up the uke again.”
It’s a shame, because the uke version, as tabbed by ukulelehunt, gives the song an intimacy that gets lost in the more lushly instrumented versions. However, beardo instrument, hmmm, perhaps it’s time to shave off the old beard and take up the stylophone or something.
