The Opposite of A.D.D.

I spent about six hours one evening this week reading Jens Lekman's online diary backwards from July of 2011 to the early days of 2004 when he started it; following links, listening to music he posted, and so on. I came to a couple of conclusions:

1) He is the "real deal" and has not simply gotten lucky or tripped and fell into a thematic goldmine

2) He is cursed with emotional instability, which always feels like something the world does to you but is actually a personality trait. The results are generally binomial - you get better or you get worse. Staying the same is the equivalent of walking an increasingly flimsy tightrope.

3) Because of #2, I am nervous as hell that his next album could be great, horrible, or anywhere in between.

I admire music that is unique, and he has shown several enviable qualities that few other artists have achieved:

1) Not only is he funny, but the humor improves the songs without lowering their replay value like other "funny" music, most of which is simply gimmicky.

2) He succeeds with sampling other music and turns great music into new music that is often equally great

3) His songs are often both overstated (the arrangements) and understated (subtlety in the lyrics) at the same time.

4) Many of his songs are sublimely ironic and are therefore something like modern poetry.

5) If you only listened to a song or two, you might make the mistake that he is a clumsy lyricist. With enough exposure it becomes clear that what he really is, is a brilliant lyricist who writes songs perfectly suited for a charmingly imperfect baroque singer who just happens to be himself. (See just about any of his songs; for instance, from "A Postcard to Nina": "Your father is mailing me all the time/ He says he just wants to say hi/ I send back 'out of office' auto-replies")

I skipped his show in Omaha in 2008 for $2 long island iced teas at The Underground, the dirtiest bar in town. I don't know that I have words to place that decision into any sense of order except to the degree that it, itself vividly testifies to the order of my own sorry existence in 2008.