Wounded Rhymes

The talented Swedish Lykke Li’ sophomore effort

The Swedish singer Lykke Li can be easily called ‘the world’s person’: born in the south of Sweden to a family of musicians, she felt the road spirit at the age of six already, when her family moved to Portugal. They spent winters in India and Nepal, and the often trips helped Li gain a wide range of interests, including those in music, and become a self-confident girl independent in her judgment. She lived in the USA for several months at the age of nineteen where she continued writing songs whose main theme was a failed but long-term romantic relationship. 2008 saw the release of Lykke Li’s debut album Youth Novels, which was partially produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John. It was a stylish, very lyrical indie-pop record which quickly drew the audience’s attention. Lykke Li’s gentle vocals reflected on personal life’s hardships, of youth, the past, the present and the future. Yet the strong character never allows the artist to repeat herself – she went to Los-Angeles to comprehend its contradictory life, watched esoteric films and searched for non-standard people. The sophomore effort Wounded Rhymes was born out of those searching and thinking to prove to be even more impressive, confident and original than the talented singer’s debut.

Unexpected imagery, introspection and occult symbolism on Wounded Rhymes

The album Wounded Rhymes differs from its predecessor in many aspects. First, it offers more complicated lyrics full of unexpected, often sexual imagery, introspection and occult symbolism. If you want to learn more about what Lykke Li has been interested in lately watch the helpful video of Get Some – various signs, shots from black-and-white movies with shocking or erotic content, and the song’s text itself are truly informative. Yet the album is much more diverse than that. The opener Youth Knows No Pain is built on amazing drums, a waving tune and lyrics calling for unambiguous action. The vivid chorus of I Follow Rivers contrasts with a smoother verse, but the contagious beat never allows the listener to relax, while Love Out Of Lust is filled with a mystical atmosphere, created by means of ear-caressing voice, unusual images in the lyrics and a volume arrangement. The slow song Unrequited Love with a beautiful guitar arpeggio can be easily considered a sad ballad, whereas Rich Kids Blues attacks once again with a cannonade of drums, nervous singing and the late 1960s’ rock elements. Another ballad I Know Places comes the closest to contemporary pop music and reminds of Duffy’s works, and one of the most complicated and heaviest numbers on the record is the extremely soulful Jerome. The album closes with fantastic bass horns on the slow, melodious and cheerless ballad Silent My Song. On the whole, each of this mature album’s ten tracks deserve attention, many of them are easy to remember after the first listening and inspire one to view life from a different angle.

A many-faceted, complicated, stylish and deeply thought album

Previously Lykke Li put her stake at the songs’ atmosphere created by means of her beautiful soft voice and enriched arrangements, whereas the new record finds the accent replaced to the song’s very meaning of the song. At the same time, Li’s vocals have become definitely more powerful and expressive, the voice range has significantly widened, and now the lightness and gentleness alternate with strong, penetrating parts and even with passionate shouting. As for the songs’ themes, Lykke Li is obviously unwilling to be similar to pop singers having already released one album devoted to a failed relationship. She is exploring the human nature now, its dark and light sides, love and sex. That is why this album is her step forward not only in the musical but in personal sense, too. Lykke Li has proved once again that self-expression, searching for oneself, the way to understand human life can and should lead through the creative work. The record Wounded Rhymes, undoubtedly, is a collection of great contagious and memorable songs, but it is far from all of its facets, that are worthy to be considered. One can be sure that Ms. Li is going to surprise us more again, and that her following album will prove to be no less many-faceted, complicated, stylish and deeply thought than Wounded Rhymes.