Oh, Lykke Li.
Let me list the reasons I love you. You’re pretty. Your last record was a jam. Multiple dope remixes were released from those tracks. You appeared on N.A.S.A.’s record, The Spirit of Apollo, and killed it. Tyler, the Creator did a sick remix of “I Follow Rivers”. You asked him to do it personally. This means you have a great taste in music. You even cover rap songs. You’re Swedish. That’s just kinda cool.
I started listening to your second LP, Wounded Rhymes. What a beautiful title for a beautiful record. Here’s the deal. In the fall, I downloaded “Get Some” as a free download on Rcrd Lbl. It threw me off as being a lot more…forward/aggressive than your earlier tracks, i.e. “Little Bit”, “Until We Bleed”. This entertained me. You claimed that you were a prostitute. Maybe that’s a metaphor, but the song drives so hard, that no matter what it means, it’s a mood raiser.
As I received and continued through the record, however, I’ve realized that it’s a very textural record. Almost like riding a horse on a long and intricate journey. The track preceding “Get Some”, “Unrequited Love”, is much calmer and somber, while “Get Some” is, again, less calm and less sober.
There’s a beautiful slight sea-sickness to the record. I feel like I’m on a cruise in the pacific. Then again, maybe that’s just all the PBR I drank last night. Wounded Rhymes seems to have a type of dreary hope in it. It’s really rather pretty. And soulful. Not surprising for a singer who I thought was black the first time I heard her. Don’t judge me. I thought it was Santogold, but Lykke Li has continually impressed me much more than the artist formerly known as Santogold. I’m just pleased that this record was no sophomore slump. After Lupe Fiasco’s “Lasers”, I didn’t know if I could put up with any more disappointment.
Oh, Lykke Li.
