AnnieB's Detour: Lykke Li

I suppose I’ll resume my column with another Swedish artist. Ever since her song came to t61, I know you all have had a “little bit” of Lykke Li, but there’s so much more great stuff from her! [Sorry, I just had to use squeeze that in. Awful, I know.] As another listener pointed out, she sings the female vocals in Peter, Bjorn, and John’s ever so popular “Young Folks,” so she is among a strong core group of musicians. Actually, Bjorn Yttling produced her album, Youth Novels, which was released in January over in Sweden. Overall, I really like the minimal/lo-fi indie pop sound.

If you’ve read my comments on her song, then you have probably checked out this video directed by Mattias Montero, which I described as “trippy.” It was nominated for Best Video at the Swedish Grammy Awards, an equivalent to MTV’s VMAs in the U.S.

Her current single is “I’m Good I’m Gone” and this is the video of the acoustic version featuring the following guests: Robyn, Adam & Bebban (Shout Out Louds), Daniel (The Concretes), Lars (Laakso) and Mikael (Hjalmar). Is it just me or do I see some sort of chicken dance in this one? Also, Robyn's probably big in Europe, but it's been ages since I've seen her.

So I initially liked these two upbeat tracks the most, perhaps it was the handclapping that automatically drew me in, but I found myself loving all her tracks on myspace.

Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone
Lykke Li - Breaking It Up
(both found through The Hype Machine, where you can search for her other tracks as well)

4 comments:

comradeinarms said...

Great songs. Can't remember where I first heard her, but thanks for bringing her back to my attention.

On a completely dorky note that only a former film-theory major could like, does anyone get a Godard cum Eisenstein feel from the first video? Maybe it's just early, but it feels like a mashup of the plate-smashing scene from Battleship & the staccato jump cuts from A Bout de Souffle.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if she knows how well received she has been at t61. It would be great if she uploaded some of her work personally rather than blog scrapes. Perhaps someone (Annie?) could send her a note and link. To here also, a very good piece Annie.

keith said...

Thanks for another great heads-up, AnnieB. There is a ridiculous amount of great pop music coming from Sweden. I was lucky enough to stumble onto Radio Dept. a few years ago, and since then it's been one treasure after another.

d said...

Thanks for posting these; I like them. I've been seeing Lykke Li mentioned around a few places that I read, but hadn't gotten around to investigating her music until now.