From now until January 13, I'll be featuring my favourite tracks of 2008, some of which have already appeared in Click Hear throughout the year, some of which haven't.
Originally posted on March 7, 2008:
Her real name is Lykke Zahrisson and she has an impressive list of friends: Shout Out Louds, who she sang back-up on Our Ill Wills; Peter Bjorn & John, who she played some gigs with filling in the girl vocals for "Young Folks," and whose Bjorn Yttling acted as producer on her full-length, Youth Novels; and in the video for "I'm Good, I'm Gone," there's an all-Swede orgy featuring Robyn (!), Adam and Bebban from Shout Out Louds and Daniel from the Concretes, among others.
It's good to have friends in high places but Lykke Li can certainly hold her own. She's been tapped to be the next Annie, Robyn, Taken By Trees, Sally Shapiro and Stina Nordenstam, though if you give this more than just a superficial once over, you'll find that besides the fact she's Scandinavian and a lady, Lykke has sculpted her own style. Sure, she shares some similarities with each of those artists - like the ability to sound vulnerable, assured and celestial - but her arrangements are much more complex (read: the instrumentation is all over the place) and less rooted in pop conventions (read: words like "electro," "disco," "bubblegum" or "indie pop" are not welcome here), despite the fact that she has a voice fit for commercial consumption.
Single "Little Bit" is a good start, with the dramatic lean in its melody, a brilliant rhythm and use of percussion, and a chorus that demonstrates her very Swedish hesitancy with the line "I'm a little bit in love with you" - consider it an attempt at R&B by the Swedes. Definitely a single of the year candidate.
Originally posted on March 7, 2008:
Her real name is Lykke Zahrisson and she has an impressive list of friends: Shout Out Louds, who she sang back-up on Our Ill Wills; Peter Bjorn & John, who she played some gigs with filling in the girl vocals for "Young Folks," and whose Bjorn Yttling acted as producer on her full-length, Youth Novels; and in the video for "I'm Good, I'm Gone," there's an all-Swede orgy featuring Robyn (!), Adam and Bebban from Shout Out Louds and Daniel from the Concretes, among others.
It's good to have friends in high places but Lykke Li can certainly hold her own. She's been tapped to be the next Annie, Robyn, Taken By Trees, Sally Shapiro and Stina Nordenstam, though if you give this more than just a superficial once over, you'll find that besides the fact she's Scandinavian and a lady, Lykke has sculpted her own style. Sure, she shares some similarities with each of those artists - like the ability to sound vulnerable, assured and celestial - but her arrangements are much more complex (read: the instrumentation is all over the place) and less rooted in pop conventions (read: words like "electro," "disco," "bubblegum" or "indie pop" are not welcome here), despite the fact that she has a voice fit for commercial consumption.
Single "Little Bit" is a good start, with the dramatic lean in its melody, a brilliant rhythm and use of percussion, and a chorus that demonstrates her very Swedish hesitancy with the line "I'm a little bit in love with you" - consider it an attempt at R&B by the Swedes. Definitely a single of the year candidate.