Search - Lykke Li :: Youth Novel

Some great cuts, but a lot of mass-appeal preprocessed pop a

Robert P. Beveridge | Cleveland, OH | 05/22/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Lykke Li, Youth Novels (EMI, 2008)



I'm sure you've heard "I'm good. I'm gone.", Lykke Li's first single from Youth Novels. It's been pretty much everywhere; TV ads, movie trailers, all over the radio. And with good reason; it's catchy as hell and the lyrics are way off in left field, but still accessible enough that pop zombies who think it's no good if you can't hear it on your favorite adult contemporary station will groove along to it in their cars. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, the rest of Youth Novels doesn't quite measure up to its first single; there are quite a few tracks here that fall into that vapid-pop trap, never distinguishing themselves from the rest of the overproduced, industry-standard pap that "I'm good. I'm gone." subverts so wonderfully. That's not to say there's nothing else of worth here; I adore the weirdness of "This Trumpet in My Head", and there's a surprising gravity to "Window Blues" one doesn't find much in this sort of light pop music. The problem being that I can use a term like "this sort of light pop music" here and no one will question me, because much of the rest of the album is insanely lightweight. "Dance, Dance, Dance", for example, just plods along sounding like pretty much every other Europop sensation (and yes, while I understand most people think that's a good thing in pop music; I will never understand the idea that predictable, same-sounding music is the way to go). More of the latter here than the former, I'm afraid, though the good songs here are worth the price of admission. ** ½



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The cover art is an indication this is going to be interesti

D. Cooper | Hartford, CT United States | 05/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a cool cd, it may take a couple of listens to really get into, it's a grower and very melodic, it's simple but don't be fooled by the lyrical content it can at times be profoundly personal.Youth Novels"

I first saw it live and just couldn't get her out of my head

nebraskann | Lincoln, NE | 07/03/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beautiful, haunting, amazing, thoughtful music. I saw her play in Osheaga and she was incredible. Almost childish, sweet sounding vocals coupled with something almost a little tribal. Interesting combination of instruments. The only thing that I can say is that the album just doesn't do her justice, she's such a musician with a very powerful voice that maybe reminds me of a Native American Bjork. She's definitely a little weird, but in my book - that's only a compliment!"