In Swedish indie-pop sensation Lykke Li’s follow-up to 2008's debut Youth Novels there’s an earnestness and weight to the album that drives her soft melodies and hypnotic beats, but also makes the listener yearn for some light amidst the bleak post-breakup laments. On Little Bit, centrepiece of her debut, she was "a little bit in love", while here "sadness is her boyfriend", the album recorded in the aftermath of an unrequited love affair. Thankfully, sadness tends to suit her, with producer Björn Yttling (he of Peter Björn and John fame) encasing the songs in a heady mix of primal drums, tinpot percussion, scratchy guitars and, on the excellent Love Out of Lust, a desolate whistle solo.
We are reminded that Lykke Li is only 24 years old in her lyrics. With only a pitter-patter beat and a simple guitar arpeggio as her accompaniment, Li sings lines from the tear-stained pages of her teenage diary on “Unrequited Love.” Wounded Rhymes peaks with “Sadness is a Blessing.” Its final three tracks never quite match the quality of the rest of the album. “I Know Places” comes close when the early-Dylan ballad gives way to a ghostly choral incantation. But “Jerome” and “Silent My Song” suffer in comparison to highlights like “I Follow Rivers” and “Rich Kids Blues.”
Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes
Atlantic – 2011
Alesandra Hernandez
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