Hear the steel drum-sampling single ‘What’s That Perfume That You Wear’.

Jens Lekman has announced his fourth album Life Will See You Now will be out next month on Secretly Canadian.

The Swedish songwriter has not released an album since 2012’s somber I Know What Love Isn’t and he describes the long gap in a brutally honest Facebook update to fans. He fills fans in on each year, going into detail about touring insecurities, abandoned projects and writers block with all the detail, humor and self-depreciation of his lyrics.

The final result should have long-time fans excited though, because new single ‘What’s That Perfume That You Wear’ bursts with the kind of bright, wry pop that Lekman hasn’t indulged in since 2007’s Night Falls Over Kortedala.

Reaching back to Lekman’s early plunderphonic sound, the track samples its steel drums from Ralph McDonald’s 1978 song ‘The Path’. It’s a sad song, but as Lekman points out: “I’ve always written my sad songs in major keys, and my happy songs in minor keys”.

“Even the saddest stories are accompanied with discobeats, calypso samples and gospel singers,” he explains. “My hope is that you will dance to this first, then listen to the lyrics. But it’s ok if you want to do it the other way around too.”

Listen to the gorgeous ‘What’s That Perfume’ below and look for Life Will See You Now Febrary 17.

Tracklist:

01. ‘To Know Your Mission’
02. ‘Evening Prayer’
03. ‘Hotwire The Ferris Wheel’
04. ‘What’s That Perfume That You Wear?’
05. ‘Our First Fight’
06. ‘Wedding in Finistère’
07. ‘How We Met, The Long Version’
08. ‘How Can I Tell Him’
09. ‘Postcard #17’
10. ‘Dandelion Seed’