Pitchfork

As the former frontman for Sweden's Edson and as a solo artist, Pelle Carlberg crafts vintage pop songs as vehicles for his velvety vocals, wry wit, and sophisticated cynicism, as if his shrink's office were on the top floor of the Brill Building. With a title that one-ups mid-90s Blur, "Clever Boys Like Clever Girls More than Clever Girls Like Clever Boys" is a how-do-you-do from his new album, In a Nutshell, that tackles gender politics among the hipster intelligentsia, scoffing at the ulterior motives and unvoiced desires of clever boys and clever girls. Lyrics like "I have a friend who's in this Mensa club" sound like the set-up for a joke, and the handclaps and castanets might be the punchline, but that trumpet just reminds you that heartache among the ironic still hurts like hell.

MP3:> Pelle Carlberg: "Clever Girls Like Clever Boys More Than Clever Boys Like Clever Girls"
[From In a Nutshell; out now on Twentyseven]