(Between now and Friday I’m counting down the list of my 20 favorite albums of 2008. Obviously I didn’t hear every album that came out–although I did hear quite a lot of them–and obviously personal taste factors into this quite a bit, so I can tell you now that if you’re looking for gospel or metal recommendations this isn’t the list for you. But let’s not squabble, let’s just appreciate all the nice music that folks are making. I’ll be posting about two albums a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, from now until Friday. Although yes, now I’m behind. Damn it anyway.)

7.
Lykke Li
Youth Novels
Atlantic Records

Sometimes I don’t give people a fair chance.  When Pink first hit the scene in 2000, for instance, I ignored There You Go on the grounds that she was being pushed as the female Sisqo.  It wasn’t until months later that I realized that Pink was completely awesome.  (Was, mind you.  There’s no excuse for So What.)

And now I realize I made the same mistake with Lykke Li, the Swedish singer that I initially ignored on the grounds that the blogosphere’s kajillion Robyn enthusiasts all thought Lykke was the second coming.  And, unlike everyone else, I don’t get the big woop about Robyn; she bugs me, frankly.

I guess part of the reason I didn’t believe the hype is that Youth Novels is so unassuming.  Produced by Bjorn Yttling (from Peter Bjorn and John), the album’s pretty spare for a pop record.  Tonight is an epic ballad that avoids histrionics, and Little Bit only hits at the sultry jazz that inspired it.  The most enthusiastic song, Breaking It Up, features handclaps and a bunch of kids singing the chorus, but even that’s very restrained in comparison to anything you’d hear on pop radio these days.

While Robyn’s very in your face, Li sounds more like Kate Bush; her diction is audibly studied, and some of the songs might be described as whimsical.  I know the female singer-songwriter thing isn’t very trendy these days, and judging by her videos her label clearly doesn’t know how the hell to market her, but Youth Novels is a really lovely album.  And, though Li just got nominated for five Swedish Grammis*, it sort of makes me cringe that the only inroads American audiences have made into Swedish pop lately have been Robyn and duller-than-dull September.

Oh, and in case you were wondering:  it’s pronounced more like Luka than Leaky.

Lyssna!  Lykke Li, Dance Dance Dance [nb: This is a homemade fan video.]
Lykke Li, Breaking It Up

[*That's not a typo.]

Tags: albums of the year, lykke li

comments feed for this post

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.