Pop Poetry & Youth Novels.

In many occasions where ‘Lykke Li’ was the subject of discussion, I’ve heard recommendations down the line of “She’s like Robyn”, “She’s the new Swedish girl hype”, & “You got to hear this pop record, its deep” & I had to see it for myself since her name was being brought up enough times to make me start get sick of it. So I finally gave ‘Youth Novels’ a listen & I’ve got to admit, at times she does sound like Robyn, and while looking her up on the world wide web I realized she currently is the new Swedish girl hype, but I wasn’t sure about the ‘Deep Pop Record’ part… the first time I played it, it felt like a one long dragging song, but then later that same day at 4:00am I wasn’t able to sleep & for some odd reason I had a strong craving to go & listen to it again, I really couldn’t remember anything from the record or why I got that urge to listen to something I thought I didn’t really like… but after I did (again), it all made sense.

Swedish chanteuse Lykke Li would perfectly appeal to the fans of Robyn, Feist, & even Lilly Allen, she’s one of those artists who sees a grand significance in pairing music with songwriting. Her gauche magnetism exuberates through her petite voice that radiates with poetry reading rather than singing vocals which unpredictably becomes the vividly memorable & high point of the record. With the help of ‘Björn Yttling’ of ‘Peter, Bjorn and John’ and ‘Lasse Mårtén’, Li was able to craft the translucent minimal-pop by fusing electronica shimmer with organic instrumentations to build a shrine for her romance saturated songs to kindle. The whole-hearted claps, whirly toy piano dabs, glittery xylophone tinkles, hyblaean acoustic guitars string trembles, dubby drummachine beats, & smokey ambiance caress its pop figure & harmonizes with soul & electronica in a soft menage a trois.

The overall atmosphere of ‘Youth Novels’ is pleasantly tenebrous, as if bleak industrial machines have learned how to feel. It wears you, touches your heart and spoons your soul; this is an album that reminds us why we need love even though it vitiates us every time we fall for it. This indie pop record is in fact deep & knows how to keep on drawing us back in over & over again.

Lykke Li MySpace