Lykke Li - This summer's biggest hit?

Good record. Could've been gooder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJHdT1j6hH8

Acoustic live version with guests: Robyn, Adam & Bebban (Shout Out Louds), Daniel (The Concretes), Lars (Laakso) and Mikael (Hjalmar). Director: Ted Malmros + Christian Haag

I kind of love this.

pretty good song, although she seems to have trouble staying in tune, particularly on the b-side 'dance dance dance'.

i'm sure i'll despise this in six months time when everyone outside of sweden starts pulling their dicks about it

diggin this.

Really enjoying this album. Though I keep finding myself playing "I'm Good I'm Gone" over and over.

She's good. There's a nice intimacy to her voice.

That video is creepy. But the song is alright

What's the point of this shit?

It sounds pleasant.

Matas Berlin mix of 'Little Bit' gives it that ever-important disco lift

She is among the acts I plan to catch at By:Larm in Oslo this week.

Can we get the obvious awkward bit out of the way and ask how the hell you pronounce her name?

The Lex is probably onto something about how people immediately jump on any female Scandinavian popstar in an 'OMG this is awesome!' way, mind.

Probably pronounced like Lee-cuh Lee, although an actual scando might know better.

The Lex is probably onto something about how people immediately jump on any female Scandinavian popstar in an 'OMG this is awesome!' way, mind.

Happens with indiepop as well.

Ly-cuh Lee would be more correct. At least in Norwegian, but I believe it's not much different in Swedish.

Happens with indiepop as well.

and American RnB pop, in Lex's case

So it's 'lie-cuh lee', then?

Ly as in Lycra.

No, not lie, more Ly as in Lynch. 'Ly-cuh lee' I suppose.

Yes, Lynch.

swedish (and norwegian?) 'y' is like the german 'ü'.

exactly what I was going to say, cb.

Surely her name is pronounced something like Luca, but with the u having a sort of u-umlaut sound.

I'm off to see her live this evening, by the way.

so, not "Likely"

But Lickly.

lookly.

The intro is nice and nearly every track here could potentially be a fantastic pop song but for god's sake, put your back into it woman.

swedish (and norwegian?) 'y' is like the german 'ü'.

At least almost. You can hardly hear the difference, although it is there.

The name Lykke Li is pronounced the same way as the danish word Lykkelig, which means Happy. (from some fashion blog)

This Swedish lo-fi popstrel (her name is pronounced ‘lick-a-lee’) (from Time Out)

Actually I just listened to it again and although the tunes are there, they're handled so badly and her voice is so flimsy that they're wasted. I wish she'd actually put some force in there from time to time or make and effort to sound committed to anything other than this vague mimsiness. Is it possible to sound diffidently mimsy? Because she does.

It's not that I've got a tin ear for this sort of stuff, two of my favourite albums from the last couple of years were by Marit Larsen and Feist. But I spent most of this record wondering if it was hamstrung by its own delicate aesthetic or just cheap, flimsy and badly performed and the four songs at the end confirmed the latter. Breaking It Up in particular should have had something at least vaguely resembling a kick to it.

Yeah, she def. can't sing as well as Lily All-waydaminnit! If SHE was that years biggest hit with that voice, why couldn't Luckily be?

'

Because we're already drowning in bland female vocalists and pretty much any of yer interchangeable Adeles or Duffys could have done a better job with this material?

It's not just the vocals, the production and arrangements are limp as well.

Twee is back (Juno sountrack and so on), maybe it's the Scandinavian version, twë?

I rather like the Duffy that I've heard ("Mercy" seems to be the uptempo single that sticks out like a sore thumb).

Actually I just listened to it again and although the tunes are there, they're handled so badly and her voice is so flimsy that they're wasted. I wish she'd actually put some force in there from time to time or make and effort to sound committed to anything other than this vague mimsiness. Is it possible to sound diffidently mimsy? Because she does.

Annie fans ought to be all over it, then

or indi3 fans full stop

"Little Bit" would sound terrible with Duffy or Adele singing it.

It sounds terrible anyway!

'weak voice' is surely the point ala Shapiro

I dunno, it's weaker than that even, I think with Shapiro or Annie or anything like that it doesn't matter as much because they're supposed to glide over the backing, which is a lot fuller in any case. A lot of the music here is sparser, or more organic at least, and you'd expect the voice to fill that space and it just doesn't.

light voice over light music obviously works in some situations. i'm not feeling any particular imbalance in li's case yet (based on myspace songs only). not sure how much i'll actually listen to this tho.

I went to see her last night. Goodness knows why her management chose that venue: 9 out of 10 of those attending hadn't come for the gig - she was the entertainment at a club night - so there was a serious noise and general-lack-of-decorum problem.

That said, I enjoyed her performance. She has a nice line in moving about on stage and hamming up the songs. Whether that will make her the 'summer's biggest hit' (cf thread title) is another matter.

i like "little bit" if that's what you're talking about, but that's been out for a WHILE.

Saw her at By:Larm (Norwegian Equivalent of MIDEM) and she was absolutely brilliant. A very charismatic live act, and a great and unique voice. It was completely crowded, so obviously she was one of the "next big things" at the meeting.

Even though she was brilliant, Superfamily were even better though.

Saw her at By:Larm (Norwegian Equivalent of MIDEM) and she was absolutely brilliant. A very charismatic live act, and a great and unique voice. It was completely crowded, so obviously she was one of the "next big things" at the meeting.

I was there too (the Thursday show), and yeah, I was floored. It was weird, though, I was jet-lagged and fell asleep and woke up a half hour before the first band went on, and I thought I wouldn't get in at all, but when I got to the club right before 9, there were only about five people there. So I got an ace spot in front...but yeah, did it ever get crowded fast. Anyway, Lykke Li, was far more energetic and charismatic than I expected. I had high hopes going in, but nothing like what we ended up seeing firsthand. She did an instore at the Platekompaniet record store the next afternoon, and did a much more low-key, but equally likeable performance.

Even though she was brilliant, Superfamily were even better though.

Egads. They're like the Killers as interpreted by Metal Skool. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I wanted to catch Dylan Mondegreen at first (great band, lousy live performance), so I didn't get to Blå until around half an hour before. And by then it was very crowded. I did get in, but hardly got out afterwards. :)

awful

and srsly just one drop in the bucket of poorly conceived swede-twee

i guess once it crosses the ocean it becomes "sophisticated"

i like this album, but most of the songs sound like they could just take off into something really spectacular, but just dont. like maybe a remix cd would be amazing. anyways, just heard a nice remix.
http://www.thefader.com/articles/2008/5/6/freeload-lykke-li-everybody-but-me-diskjokke-remix

this album is like the female vocals from young folks stretched out over 45 mins, but it's nice

and not just cuz it's another swedish chick but the vocals have that same sleepy-eyed but kinda seductive thing to it

otm. I had the same problem with Angel Olsen, this year's other acclaimed singer-songwriter album. The mix and arrangement choices leaned too heavily on the lugubrious.

usually i find an excessively reverbed landscape dulling and alienating but something about this one is really enveloping and inhabitable for me

would love to hear emmylou harris sing "love me like i'm not made of stone"

Sadness is my Boyfriend is great. One of my favourites on the last album.

I think "Love Me..." is absolutely stunning as-is and feel even the slightest bit more of any production flourishes could possibly have ruined it.

I'm not usually a fan of shticky reverb, but I don't mind it at all here. It just feels like a really natural way of presenting these songs

three or so listens i think i've determined this album is just too much of too little to hold me

I think "Love Me..." is absolutely stunning as-is and feel even the slightest bit more of any production flourishes could possibly have ruined it.

otm

for Brad's sake I'm gonna listen again

idk alfred this might not be a record for you

it is definitely a record for me

like the vast dimensional swaths of reverb actually lend a warmth and drama to the songs, reminds me of a more functional lanois production

xp I dunno, this seems like a pretty direct, earnest album that anybody could get behind.

I don't get the "omg she worked with Greg Kurstin" dismissal at all. It's like like Kurstin is Max Martin or something, and I really don't hear his stamp on this at all. For all its uumph, I think the production does a great job staying out of the way

it isn't a dismissal -- two out of his three tracks are the best ones on the album! -- and if anything this needed *more* of him. but I just don't think it's good criticism to be like "she moved to L.A. to ~*find herself*~" when if you look at the industry (and "I Follow Rivers" being a surprise(?) chart hit after the fact) there are more likely reasons. (the same goes, fwiw, for "you just need to break up with someone, then you'll understand")

Yeah, I rolled my eyes a bit at the break-up narrative, since it's one of those tropes critics have a way of overstating. Mirah also just came out with a new album the same week that was also born of A Really Hard Break Up. Break-ups aren't nearly as rare or exotic as critics make them out to be sometimes; they're a pretty universal experience.

But I understand why they play it up for albums like this. It's pretty clearly a break-up album, and having that autobiographical context, however oversimplified, really does help listeners connect to records. And since critics play up and overstate any narrative they're handed (It's their first album in three years! First album with a new bassist! First album after moving from one indie label to another! Etc) I don't think there's anything that unusual about how they framed this one

for the record i think the pr narrative about this record both overexplains and hinders it, and personally i am a fan of luxuriating semi-identical sadnesses but i might find them tiresome if the whole thing exceeded 30 minutes

the new one has grown on me a ton

I was in the midst of a break-up depression when it came out so I listened to it once and put it away. Perhaps it's time to reassess.

this record will probably attach to fall nicely

^^ It really, really does. Love how unabashedly honest this record is. Frequently getting This Mortal Coil vibes too, which make it all the more autumn-y. Love it.

New album coming in June called, So Sad So Sexy. Sean from Drowned In Sound has said the new songs he's heard sound like Aaliyah and Prince. Apparently it's her return to pop and two new singles are coming next week. Looking forward to this even though her last album didn't really do anything for me.

Sean from Drowned In Sound has said the new songs he's heard sound like Aaliyah and Prince

I would bet this is completely inaccurate

You're probably right, but it did get my hopes up.

The album is out June 8.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLO408PZgek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ5zqTEDeHc

01 hard rain
02 deep end
03 two nights [ft. Aminé]
04 last piece
05 jaguars in the air
06 sex money feelings die
07 so sad so sexy
08 better alone
09 bad woman
10 utopia

Not sure about these new songs. They're ok, they just don't have the character of her first two albums. Hopefully they'll grow on me.

Major 3LW vibes on "Deep End"

06 sex money feelings die

I really like these! It's nice to hear some grit behind her soft voice, even if it is borrowed sadcore-trap vibes from Lana Del Rey.

"sounds like Aaliyah and Prince" is gonna be my new ironic refereence in talking about people who don't understand anything remotely r&b influenced in the present.

99% of the time, a trap beat makes me tune right out. No different here.

"deep end" is pretty cool but considering it was produced by jeff bhasker, malay & t-minus it also feels a bit like less than the sum of its parts to me. nb ive never had a use for her music but the way ppl were talking about this one got me to check it out

The swimming pools / indigo / deep blue hook in Deep End is real nice.

Really disappointed with the new album. Totally passed me by the couple of times I listened to it.

What’s it like?

im liking it

Same!

Albums super short. Template seems to be the prior collab with ASAP and the Lynch ballad

Why in God’s name did she use vocoder on this

man this album is a grower, it's great

i've only heard "two nights" so far, like it

Record is very dense production wise. Full of miniature details and very self contained. I absolutely love the opening song

The general reaction for this album seems above average, critically and just user opinions I’ve read. Which is fair as the album is so short and ends on “utopia” which is a stunner of a song, at 34 mins this is succinct.

This record feels transitory to me in that her last one was a fairly bummer ride compared to previous work, but here she seems to be reconciling? Not as much a shift as sundfors last two to draw a comparison.

in love with this record

the concise nature makes every song shine, it's gorgeous

wow someone really loved "High By The Beach" a lot eh

I had put off listening to this because the last one was such a washout but this is much better, maybe lacking a great single but possibly her best full album?

Great record

I'm still not enjoying this as much as I want to. It certainly is a step up from the last album, but it's nowhere near the quality of her first two albums for me. Wounded Rhymes is my favourite.

I never learn is a masterpiece u philistines

this one has some good bits but imho they’re the most familiar bits (bad woman, last piece)

I'm starting to come around to this album. I keep getting the chorus to Jaguars In The Air stuck in my head.

the 'u got it bad' cover is decent

https://open.spotify.com/track/4Dg5moVCTqxAb7Wr8Dq2T5?si=Wr6xOHL6RWSldgf4TvY6Tg

No comment as yet it seems on her most recent album EYEYE - it's extremely doleful, maybe even more so than I Never Learn. I wasn't wild about the last album but this one seems like a big improvement to me.