12.1.15
Jens Lekman, "Postcard #44":

After taking a long break from posting new songs in Novemeber, Jens is leaving himself just four weeks to knock out the final nine songs in his year-long, 52 song odyssey.

This is the first of two he posted at the very end of November, and it's pretty forgettable. And for being pretty forgettable, it's also pretty long.

I'm trying to be mindful that he has been working on a project to listen to people's stories and write songs immediately about them at two different museums over the past month, which may be sapping some of his creative energy, but I also really hope he 1) finishes the project and 2) doesn't limp into the finish. This particular song, however, doesn't give me a lot of hope that he'll do either.

12.2.15
Jens Lekman, "Postcard #45":

Better than the other song he posted on the same day, but just average for this series, and probably not a track that could be transformed into an album track or even a b-side. In general with this series, the difference between a so-so idea that I can tolerate and one that I can't is heavily dependent on the tone of the music, and this one wins over its sibling mostly because it's got more bpm and a jauntier air to it.

12.14.15
Jens Lekman, "Postcard #46":

I had a hard drive incident that kept me from writing and posting for several days, which just gave Jens enough time to post another track for me to write about in the meantime.

Another slightly-below-average track for this series, and even the goofy, dance-y elements and funny lyrics can't save this one. At least it's not too long.

Just over two weeks left and still six songs left to get to 52. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

12.15.15
Jens Lekman, "Postcard #47":

Jens posted this track just today, allowing me to keep my streak of writing only about his Postcards this month.

This is the first genuinely good and listenable track since "Postcard #38", which was posted way back in December. This has elements of classic Jens, and could easily be made into a b-side with some potential for an album track (although the chorus I think would need to be made more compelling for that to happen, and the filler bridge would either need to to away or be rewritten as well).

12.16.15
Jens Lekman, "Postcard #48":

Another just-in-time posting that keeps me from having to deal with the fact that not only am I not prepared to post my top 10 lists for 2015 yet, but I still have not posted my top 10 lists for 2014. Which would be pretty embarrassing if anyone actually cared.

This one sounds way too much like a couple of other tracks he has posted over the past couple of weeks, and it's clear that, while he still seems to be determined to find a way to finish the project, he just doesn't have a lot left in the tank, and hasn't really been enthusiastic about it since early in the fall.

Still, I think I like this one a little better than the other tracks that it seems to be related to ("Postcard #45" and "Postcard #46"), although it remains firmly in the average category for this series.

12.21.15
Jens Lekman, "Postcard #49":

I took a couple of days off to attend a Star Wars marathon, which, when coupled with the weekend that followed that interesting experience, gave Jens enough time to post one more song and keep the December streak of writing about Postcards on this blog alive.

Not sure what to make of this one, but I don't think I can convince myself to like it. The lack of instruments, the echo vocal, and the non-compelling lyrics all point to a hastily dashed off effort that's more about checking another song off the list than exploring the germ of an interesting idea.

12.22.15
So that's it for this year. No new track from Jens to write about today, and I'm off work for the rest of the year, so we'll have to wait until 2016 to see how this whole experiment of posting 52 songs in a year works out.