Youth Novels
The latest in a line of fine Swedish pop exports, Lykke Li's debut album-- which, although it seems like it's been around forever, is only just now out in the UK with a U.S. release to finally come this summer-- was produced and co-written by Björn Yttling of Peter Björn and John.
On her full-length debut, Lykke Li sounds like she's been waiting to refashion the classical torch song her whole life. Youth Novels is all teasing and heartbreak, with production (from Peter Bjorn & John's Bjorn Yttling) that plays on empty spaces as much as well-chosen backing. Li's voice is spacier and breathier…
The debut album from Swedish singer Lykke Li turns out to be agonisingly close to true greatness.
Advance hype fueled by the Little Bit EP had Lykke Li pegged as the next in a growing string of cool-kid-approved pop stars to leak out from Sweden's endless supply, but Youth Novels doesn't entirely play out as expected, emphasizing neither Robyn's electronic dance-pop precision nor the affable strumming of Jens Lekman or Peter Björn and John (whose Björn Yttling handles production duties here, and also co-writes every track).
“You’ll be the rhythm and I’ll be the beat/And I’ll be the rhythm and you’ll be the beat” sings Sweden’s Lykke Li; it’s certainly a fitting introduction to the key dichotomies throughout, but it’s also a false lead.
“Everybody But Me” is such a triumphant ode to being antisocial that it makes you want to follow Li into whatever quiet corner of the bar she manages to escape to.
Twenty-one-year-old Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li Timotej Zachrisson, or Lykke Li for short, has been steadily building a buzz among the bloggers...