Night Falls Over Kortedala is the second full length release by Swedish pop singer Jens Lekman

Jens Lekman

Jens Martin Lekman is a Swedish musician. His music is guitar-based pop with heavy use of samples and strings, with lyrics that are often witty, romantic, and melancholic. The English lyrics reflect an advanced knowledge of the language and its idioms...

. Announced on 25 July 2007, and advertised on Lekman's website as a "a collection of recordings 2004-2007", the album was released in Scandinavia on the label Service

Service (record label)

Service is an independent record label formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in December 2001. The label's first release was Studio's "The End of Fame".In May 2008 Service launched a new music subscription model called Service Coop.-Bands and artists :...

 on 5 September 2007 and worldwide on 9 October 2007 through Secretly Canadian

Secretly Canadian

Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana. It was started in 1996 by Chris and Ben Swanson, Eric Weddle, and Jonathan Cargill. Their first release was a re-issue of an album by June Panic...

.

The subject matter includes Lekman's first kiss—supposedly at age 19 ("And I Remember Every Kiss")—and being introduced as the boyfriend of his lesbian friend to her parents ("A Postcard to Nina"). "And I Remember Every Kiss" contains a short sample from "Theme from Sand Pebbles" also known as "And We Were Lovers" written by Leslie Bricusse

Leslie Bricusse

Leslie Bricusse is an English composer, lyricist, and playwright.Although best known for his partnership with Anthony Newley, Bricusse has worked with many other composers. He was educated at University College School in London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...

 and Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....

 performed by Enoch Light

Enoch Light

Enoch Henry Light was a classical violinist, bandleader, and recording engineer. As A&R chief and vice-president of Grand Award Records, he founded Command Records in 1959. Light's name was prominent on many albums both as musician and producer...

.

The song "Your Arms Around Me" appears on the soundtrack of the 2009 film, Whip It.

Release

Pre-orders for the Swedish release also include a digital bonus EP, Kalendervägen 113.D

Kalendervägen 113.D

Kalendervägen 113.D is a bonus EP included with the initial pre-order copies of Jens Lekman's 2007 album Night Falls Over Kortedala. It is a stripped-down 7-track medley of songs from Night Falls... as well as a Paul Simon cover from Graceland and two unreleased songs 'The Rain Has Got To Fall'...

, a one track acoustic medley which, according to Lekman, includes "two unreleased songs on it 'The Rain Has Got To Fall' and 'Our Last Swim In The Ocean' as well as a couple of songs from Night Falls... and a Paul Simon

Paul Simon

Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...

 song from Graceland

Graceland (album)

Graceland was Paul Simon's highest charting album in the U.S. in over a decade, reaching #3 in the national Billboard charts, receiving a certification of 5× Platinum by the RIAA and eventually selling over 14 million copies, making it Simon's most commercially successful album...

 I thought was suitable. It's me, a guitar and a loop pedal, nothing else. For those of you who prefer it more au naturale."

Reception

Online music magazine

Online magazine

An online magazine shares some features with a blog and also with online newspapers, but can usually be distinguished by its approach to editorial control...

 Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 placed Night Falls Over Kortedala at number 153 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s. The Album also made Paste Magazine's 50 Best Albums of the 2000s, entering the list at number 43.

Kalendervägen 113.D

Advance copies of the album came with the bonus EP Kalendervägen 113.D.

Track listing

1. "And I Remember Every Kiss" – 2:59
2. "Sipping on the Sweet Nectar" – 4:11
3. "The Opposite of Hallelujah" – 4:21
4. "A Postcard to Nina" – 5:01
5. "Into Eternity" – 3:44
6. "I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You" – 3:48
7. "If I Could Cry (It Would Feel Like This)" – 3:23
8. "Your Arms Around Me" – 5:02
9. "Shirin" – 3:56
10. "It Was a Strange Time in My Life" – 5:08
11. "Kanske är jag kär i dig"  – 4:43
12. "Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo" – 4:16