Dinosaur Jr.
NEWPORT MUSIC HALL, 1722 N. HIGH ST.
614- 461- 5483, www.promowestlive.com
Still going strong after 33 years, the introspective alt- rock band hasn’t showed any signs of becoming its namesake creature. The band's 2016 album, “Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not,” earned upbeat reviews across music platforms.
7 p.m. Monday $25
When he first started touring across the United States, Swedish singersongwriter Jens Lekman would pull up to a glowing concert hall marquee with his name splashed across in giant metal letters.
“Jen Leckman,” the sign announced.
Lekman now has a clause in his contract that misspellers must donate $500 to an illiteracy fund.
The stipulation has yet to be enforced, thanks in part to the fact that Lekman has since made a name for himself.
Born in Sweden’s secondlargest city, Gothenberg, the 36-year-old grew the roots of his conversational, disco-influenced songs as a teenager playing bass in a friend’s band. Adopting the artist name “Rocky Dennis” for a time, Lekman scrapped the pseudonym and released his second, and most popular, album, “Night Falls Over Kortedala," in 2007.
The wistful, romantic “Night Falls” turns 10 this year, but Lekman isn’t losing himself in nostalgic musings.
“I get a bit uncomfortable with bands going out and playing their one album from 15 or 20 years ago instead of working on new music," he said. "Sometimes it feels like music is becoming more and more of a museum.”
Practicing what he preaches, in 2012 a nasty breakup led to a new album “I Know What Love Isn’t,” the darkness to the sunshine of “Night Falls.”
A downer both emotionally and monetarily, the album and its subsequent tour threw Lekman into a mental tailspin.
Tired of singing about himself, the singer worked on two projects centered outside of his head.
“Postcards” involved writing a new song each week in
an effort to break Lekman of paralyzing perfectionism. “Ghostwriting” brought him to Cincinnati in 2015 to perform songs he wrote from the real-life stories of others he interviewed with the theme “Secrets.”
The stories that stuck out, he said, were ones where shame or embarrassment played prominent roles. He specifically remembers the narrative of a man who, as a teen, called a girl a derogatory name only to find her posse in his face.
“So many times when you hear songs and stories, they might be about how you’re down on your luck, but they’re usually in your own favor,” Lekman said. “I found this story so interesting because it felt like someone trying to cleanse themselves from this moment of shame in their lives when they hadn’t done something really good.”
He also recorded narratives in his hometown, where Lekman noticed a cultural shift from the storytelling strategies of his American counterparts. Americans tended to start at the bottom — for instance, “my dog died” — and then explain how they worked their way out of their difficult circumstances — “but I started a pet rescue group.”
Swedes care less about change and focus more on where they currently stand — “my dog died and I’m still sad.”
Lekman started therapy during his low years, a decision that forced him to confront how he views his own arc as a movie script that doesn’t make sense.
“I think that’s something we all have to do,” he said. “I think we have to figure out our story, and I think that shows through which society (and) which reality we live in.”
The few years spent outside himself proved enough of a breather for Lekman to return to his feelings with the release of “Life Can See You Now” in February.
Don’t let the upbeat rhythms and bouncy verse structure distract from the potency of Lekman’s lyrics. A song about a doubting bride — Lekman supports himself as a wedding singer — sits next to a wondering ballad about a first fight with a romantic partner.
Most unusual, though, is Lekman’s look at a platonic male relationship in “How Can I Tell Him.” The struggle to extend beyond shallow small talk culminates in the haunting final lines “Before he’s gone he shouts, ‘Later, dude’ / I think, ‘Yeah, I love you too.’”
“I’ve just been thinking about all the ways you can tell someone you love them without actually saying those words,” he said. “By just being there, for example.”
Or spelling his name correctly.