Lykke Li - Youth Novels

Not since Bjork first burst onto the scene with her first record ‘Debut’ some 15 years ago has it been so easy to fall in love so instantly with the sound of a solo female artist.

Lykke Li’s debut ‘Youth Novels’ is a fragile, almost otherworldy album of incredible, strange and delicate beauty. Like Joanna Newsom before her, you can see how Lykke’s pixie-ish voice might rub some people up the wrong way, but it seems to blend so seamlessly with the often sparse backing of the tracks that you’d have to have the heart of a particularly bitter ogre not to fall under her spell.

Previous single ‘I’m Good, I’m Gone’ strides out and shakes its ass in an almost obscene frenzy of coolness, with its lolloping piano refrain and infectious driving rhythm. ‘Let It Fall’ is another supremely suave number, almost collapsing under its own effortless grace. Another highlight is ‘Little Bit’ which sees Lykke singing about something we can all relate to – that toe-curling terror of telling someone you’re crazy about that you love them for the first time - captured perfectly in her whispered, timid vocals and jittery, fluttering melody.

It would be wrong to assume that Lykke’s butterfly-delicate vocals and ear for devastatingly catchy pop tunes equals weakness or cuteness though – ‘Complaint Department’ shows a definite darker side with a desolate piano riff and pummelling rhythm, while closing track ‘Window Blues’ is a bruised and forlorn tale of a twisted love. Far from being one-dimensional quirky indie pop princess, these tracks prove Lykke’s no girlie pushover.

Like Bjork before her, Lykke Li is unafraid to veer off the tedious path of ‘keeping it safe’, mixing reflective, pared down songs (the haunting ‘Time Flies’) next to the decidedly upbeat tracks (‘Dance, Dance, Dance’) without so much as a second thought. It’s a calculated risk but it works, leaving you eager to join her as she sets off on fearless, exciting and bold musical adventures.

‘Youth Novels’ is fourteen tracks long, and you might expect a dud track or two to be lurking somewhere among them. But it’s one of those rarities – a debut album that flies dangerously close to perfection.