When an American thinks of Sweden, many things might come to mind: IKEA, lingonberries, Norway.
What might not be immediate — but certainly ought to be — is music.
According to the Consulate General of Sweden, the nation is the third-largest music exporter in the world, behind only the United States and the United Kingdom.

One extraordinary album from around this time last year is Jens Lekman’s first full-length album, “Night Falls Over Kortedala.”
“I used to come from a little place called Kortedala (a suburb outside of Gothenburg, Sweden),” Lekman said at this year’s XSW Music Festival in Austin. “And I uh, hated it there, and I couldn’t wait to move out.”
Regardless, the music is fantastic, in the literal sense of the word. Lekman blurs samples in the background along original instrumentation in the same manner as the Avalanches.
“Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig” (“Maybe I’m In Love With You”) is, to me, the album’s highlight among many highlights. A note ­— do not be overtaken by anxiety: the album’s completely in English.

José González and El Perro del Mar, improbably enough, are two Swedish singers of sad, sad songs. (González’s parents are Argentinian-Swedish; El Perro del Mar is the stage name of Sarah Assbring.)
El Perro del Mar is pretty downtempo, sedate stuff, but very pretty. “Into the Sunshine,” from the last album, captures the spirit of ‘60s American pop à la Lesley Gore.
González’s two albums are characterized by classical guitar accompanying his very beautiful tenor. His cover of “Heartbeats” by The Knife, who are fellow Swedes, met some success in its radically altered arrangement.
Let me briefly mention that Annie, an adorable dance-pop songstress from Norway, has a song called “Heartbeat” (no relation), which was named Pitchfork Media’s No. 1 single of 2004. Robyn, a Swedish pop singer-songwriter, has a song called “With Every Heartbeat,” which made the top of the charts in the UK.

One misconception of Swedish music regards genre. The nation is most well-known for pop, as with the Cardigans and ABBA, and contrarily metal, such as Opeth, Meshuggah and In Flames.
The members of the Cardigans in fact started in metal before moving to pop.
But there are at least two other genres in the country. Dungen, who have an excellent new album out, play acclaimed progressive rock I’m from Barcelona play the same sort of crazy twee pop as architecture in Helsinki. They have  30 members and have extraordinarily little in common with the band Barcelona who played the SUB two weeks ago.
Let me also mention Peter Bjorn and John. PB&J’s breakout hit was “Young Folks,” which was a song wrapped around a whistle, with Victoria Bergsman of the Concretes featured on co-lead vocals. Peter Morén from the band released a wonderful solo effort on Quarterstick Records, “The Last Tycoon,” earlier this year.

To return to the first point: being an American is a funny thing. I forget sometimes there’s a world out there. I’ve only ever been a mile or two into Canada, and there lies the extent of my international experience.
Jens Lekman’s album hit number one on the Swedish charts. Here, we get Fergie’s “The Dutchess.”
Consequently, every day I am grateful for college radio, where one hears less Fergie than Jens Lekman.
Hear these songs and others this Friday on my radio show, the Man Date with Marcus Kellis, between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. at www.kuoi.org or
89.3 FM.

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