Sunday 22 May 2011

Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes



The wonderful thing about Sweden is its capacity to produce special music and artists. Lykke Li has been considered another special artist since her first album ‘Youth Novels’ was released in 2008. A wholly well received album, although music critics noted an element of tentativeness towards the sound she was trying to create. If anything, this simply created more anticipation for her second outing, ‘Wounded Rhymes’, as her sound would surely mature with age and experience.

At 25, Lykke Li has produced an album with a swaggering confidence that never hesitates in its delivery. And swagger is the key word with this album. Tracks like ‘Get Some’ and ‘I Follow Rivers’ will give you an insight into exactly what Lykke Li wants from her music. It’s cool and refreshing, and outmuscles all the misconceptions about any tentativeness in her music.

‘Like a shotgun, needs an outcome, I’m your prostitute, come and get some…’

Get some is the stand out track on the album. Mainly due to the plethora of violent and sexual images that she spits out, and the tribal drums that perfectly compliment her aggressive lyrical content. It seems this is the sound Lykke Li, her fans, and her critics have been waiting for.

The album gives the impression that Li will throw herself, whole-heartedly, into everything she tries. The melodies she creates are beautiful and tender, particularly on ‘Sadness is a Blessing’, which adds another element to her growing repertoire. Her lyricism is passionate and heartfelt at times, ruthless and sexual at others. It still has the element of youthfulness that fans of the first album will be expecting, but a maturity that will pull in fans who don’t just know her from Twilight: Full moon or New moon or whatever.

A track that will find a place in many a listener’s heart is track eight; ‘I Know Places’ which recalls all the end of the party moments that you will have had in you college/university days. Her voice and the accompanying guitar have a certain lethargy that sets the perfect atmosphere and suits the lyrical content beautifully.

As always in my reviews, I tend to shed some light on the negative aspects at the end, my reasoning’s for this… I don’t know.

Something that crops up occasionally whilst listening to this album is the helplessness towards making comparisons with the other elite solo-artists. I won’t say too much about when and where on the album this occurs (at times its blatantly obvious), but it is does slightly detract from the uniqueness of both artist and record. Gritty electro pop is Lykke Li’s thing, and at times, although admirable and enjoyable, her experiments with new sounds may bear too many similarities with the elite for some listeners.

BUT, as she drones through another album with a swaggering confidence much longed for after ‘Youth Novels’, this should surely confirm her status as queen bee of the electro-pop scene. Thank you Sweden. (Tack så mycket) 

8/10

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