Lykke Li - Youth Novel

Staying in the quirky Indie Electro Pop mode, today we have Lykke Li's Youth Novel.

Swedish indie pop artist Lykke Li Zachrisson (better known as Lykke Li) grabbed the attention of bloggers the world over in the early 2000s with a handful of catchy and genuinely impressive retro-chic singles made available on her MySpace profile. Armed with sensuous, barely-there vocals and backed up by a quirky, bass-heavy, ever-so-slightly lo-fi sound (courtesy of Peter Bjorn and John's Björn Yttling, who produced her first discs), Lykke Li released her debut EP, a three-track affair entitled Little Bit, on her fledgling label, LL Recordings, in 2007. The disc's title track went on to earn a good deal of buzz among indie pop-centric bloggers and, perhaps to a greater extent, the mainstream Swedish music press soon after it was released. Lykke Li made her first appearance on Swedish MTV that year, performing an acoustic version of "Tonight" on Phaser, and the video for "Little Bit" was nominated for Best Video at that year's Swedish Grammy Awards. Her debut full-length, Youth Novels, was slated for release in 2008.

Watch this video and tell me you aren't immediately hooked!



Cool video and the song is so friggin' catchy!

Led by electro mavericks The Knife, and the emotional disco of Robyn, the Swedes now proudly present Lykke Li, 2008's girl most likely too. A Madonna obsessive and former dancer, Li joins the aforementioned by tapping into the early '80s manna of Depeche Mode, Yazoo and Japan - adding a dash of Bjorkish ambition to her imaginative homemade digitalism.

With Peter, Bjorn & John's Bjorn Yttling twiddling the production dials, there are other similarly infectious moments. And stacks of ambition too. Moving from the Concretes-like indie of opener "Tonight", the listener is rewarded with a succession of curve balls, including spoken-word ambience ("Melodies & Desires"), hip-swinging electro ("I'm Good, I'm Gone") and nursery-rhyme show-stoppers ("My"). This is a brilliant imagination running riot and "I'm Good I'm Gone", in particular, should be a monster hit. Everywhere.

More impressive, is the fact that, as an album, "Youth Novels" barely flags. A banquet of bewildering sounds is served, culminating in the insane world music mélange of "Breaking It Up" and the symphonic twirl of "Window Blues". Still only 22 (!), Lykke Li has constructed one of 2008's most ambitiously grandiose statements. Madonna can shuffle off to her Live Nation millions, a new pop saviour has been found.

by Adam Webb

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