More on: Lykke Li

Label: Atlantic
Release Date: 09/06/08
Rating:

Another Scandinavian pop pixie on the horizon, Lykke Li arrives with 'Youth Novels', a debut that is equal parts shrugging sophisto-pop and fragile introspection but is always great fun. 'Youth Novels' gets off to somewhat of a slow start; 'Melodies & Desires' opens the album, all low key atmospherics and piano flourishes with Lykke in spoken word mode, while 'Dance, Dance, Dance' hesitates too long in bringing the brass and gospel backing vocals to the fore. Things look up though with the irresistible 'I'm Good, I'm Gone' - pop of the kind only Swedes can conjure, or so it seems. Handclaps and a simple but deadly catchy piano hook are coupled with the child like innocence of the vocals to create a wonderful slice of 21st century pop.

Much of the album has a deep thread of melancholy running through it; this is more effective in the more up-tempo tracks on the album such as 'Breaking It Up' or the sultry, sensual 'Little Bit', rather than when Lykke is allowed to wallow as on 'Hanging High'. The influence of producer Bjorn Yttling (of Peter, Bjorn & John) shines through on 'Tonight'. Starting as a conventional ballad before tumbling bongos take the song to somewhere quite unexpected an all the more interesting for it, Lykke's voice is at its rawest here and she sounds almost in tears as she begs "don't you let me go, let me go tonight". The voice is certainly the centre piece of the record; at times childlike and joyful as on 'Let It Fall', and beautifully vulnerable as on 'Everybody But Me', a Scandinavian girl pop updating of 'How Soon Is Now?' as "everybody's dancing, everybody's laughing, everybody but me".

The most impressive aspect of Lykke's voice is that it never has to work for your attention, commanding each track and drawing all ears toward it upon its arrival on each and every track of 'Youth Novels'. She succeeds in not ever sounding like she's trying to be wilfully quirky, and the more unconventional aspects of the record ('Let It Fall', a sugary sweet ode to crying) are charming rather than irritating. 'This Trumpet In My Head' is less successful, matching Spanish guitar and mariachi trumpet with more spoken word. It is, however, a brave effort to do something different.

Comparisons to Robyn are valid in the slinky pristine pop of 'Complaint Department' and the vocals of 'Let It Fall', but Lykke Li more than manages to retain her identity throughout the duration of the record. 'Youth Novels' is a fine debut that is never short of ideas, suggesting that Lykke Li has the individuality, the talent and the charm to be much more than a flash in the pan.

Andrew Grillo

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