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Album Details
- Artist: Lykke Li
- Album: Wounded Rhymes
- Label: LL Recordings
- Year of Release: 2011
- ME Rating:
- Reviewed by: tosnob on 2011-03-18
RecommendThe sophomore jinx is a real thing. Many a band fail to produce a quality follow-up to their breakthrough debuts. Something told me that it wouldn't be a problem for Swedish indie sensation Lykke Li and her second full length album Wounded Rhymes, out March 1st.
Wounded Rhymes definitely branches out further than on Youth Novels. The album opens with "Youth Knows No Pain", which could easily be the theme to a '60s-era spy flick. A similar sound seeps into "Sadness Is a Blessing", a track that benefits from a girl group wall of sound not unlike that of The Raveonettes.
Li delivers a big curveball to her fans with a pair of stripped down numbers. "I Know Places" is mostly her vocals and a gently guitar strum, while "Unrequited Love" is has a vaguely country vibe that wouldn't sound out of place coming from someone like Emmylou Harris.
That's not to say that Li has abandoned what made her a darling with fans in the first place. "I Follow Rivers" is infectious electro-dance pop. Your hips will be shaking to "Rich Kids Blues". She gets back to that dark, mysterious, sultry and wicked atmosphere with the tribal beats of "Get Some" and the thunder-rumble of "Jerome".
Wounded Rhymes may not be as immediately captivating as her debut, but Lykke Li manages to be an exception to the sophomore slump with a solid and enjoyable album.
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on 2011-11-27 CharlesMartel Said:
Did you know that one of the many names of Lykke Li is the same as a popular brand of shampoo - Timotei? I wonder if her parents knew that when they named her. Now, Sweden has been responsible for a real mixed bag of music, from the pop super giants of ABBA to some pretty dire death metal acts. Swedish Indie has occasionally risen to the notice of the outside world, and Lykke Li is one such artist who has achieved that status.
Her debut album, "Youth Novels" , was kind of cute. It was catchy, danceable and rather infectious. So what happened? Somewhere along the way Ms Zachrisson decided that she should move into a more deep and meaningful sound, a sort of art-pop, where she could give vent to all those deep and meaningful things she had to say. That was not a good idea, for it placed her in the middle of that pack of largely undistinguishable acts whose sound is sort of hazy, as if you had recorded it in a washing machine and where the tempo is rather slower than it is feasible to dance to. If it was a deliberate change in style, it was a mistake.
Don't get me wrong, the album is not bad. OK, I will admit, "Unrequited Love" is awful. She sings out of key and it sounds horrible. But that apart, this is quite a reasonable album. The problem is, that it sounds like so many others it is hard to find anything distinctive about it. For me, 2008 was a poor year for music and I really struggled to find anything I liked. It is almost as if Lykke Li has gone back three years and produced an album which would have fitted in with the sort of sound being produced then.
Her ideas are clever and the arrangements are pretty spot on - the drumming I find particularly appropriate. And yes, I suppose I should give some attention to her voice because it is distinctive if nothing else. The trouble is that those elements, when combined, are not allowed room to flourish because most of the songs are rather poor and insipid. The talent is there, but it falls rather flat with the material that it has to work with. I understand Lykke Li writes most of her own songs. If so, she needs to put some serious thought into what she wants to be before her next album comes out, because I don't think I could take another disappointing album like this one.
Rating: 6/10
