WOUNDED RHYMES – LYKKE LI

Wounded Rhymes is a cold album; but not at all in a bad way. We are all a product of the places we come from, and in the case of Lykke Li and her band, that place is very, very cold. The opening Youth Knows No Pain sets the tone for this second record by the Swedish singer, as a slow, cavernous 60s rock rumbles under Lykkie Li, who sounds like a kind of female reincarnation of Jim Morrison. I Follow Rivers is inimitably catchy as only the Swedes can be, with a swirling Hammond organ spelling out the gospel undertones that carry through the duration of the album. The provocative and rocking Get Some yields the best lyric: “like a shotgun needs and outcome, I’m your prostitute, you’re gon’ get some”. While the bleakness and fuzzy grandeur of Björn Yttling’s production send us through valleys of Nordic glaciers, the slight bluesy push in Li’s melodies keeps us within arm’s reach of the country and soul of Nashville, Tenessee; Unrequited Love is a page straight out of Emylou Harris’ book, while Sadness Is A Blessing sounds like a Lord of the Rings treatment of Dusty Springfields’ I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself. However you describe it, Lykke Li’s music comes from a sincere place, and, like the barren ice fields of Northern Sweden, it is as beautiful as it is cold.

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