Lykke Li - Wounded Rhymes

I still feel really amazed when realizing – or I guess when I’m corrected – when a band/artist is way more/way less popular than I think/assume. I bring it upon myself, sure, but I mean I don’t really think you should have to watch TV or get on social networks unless you want to and so well, I didn’t know Lykke Li was a huge star now. I remember her last album being previewed on a Carson Daly show and her music seemed very intriguing. And so while I kept her new album on my radar, I got onto it a few weeks after it was released and definitely realize why she’s so beloved. I mean I guess it’s lame to be so behind and out of it but once I got Wounded Rhymes soaked in; it was maybe better that the hype was kept locked away. I’m not sure how much influence such mediums play but there has to be some kind of head trick with it all?
Either way, the first song I instantly loved and couldn’t get away from was “I Follow Rivers.” For obvious reasons, the music’s bumping beats away played that forceful, yet carefree boom to her honest words about following him all the way down the river, into the deep sea. I think part of her magic is the fact that she weaves these personal, introspective stories through playfully clever metaphors and while she’s obviously someone still very young, her songwriting is great. So even a song about following him ‘deep sea baby’ is sincerely from the heart and still, poppy and smooth.


The ten songs that span the album are rich and filled with depth that by the time you get to the pouring sounds of the closer, “Silent My Song,” everything just seems to wash away. The pensive manner of the stomping sounds give in to Li’s towering vocals as she doubles her layers so that her voice comes shining through. It’s like a call-and-response type of feel but where her voice clashes against the music in a great wave of immersing voices. She’s incredibly sad, too, and again it’s genuinely clear as she sings, “No fist is needed when you call,” because he hurts her so much without ever needing to even touch her, he ‘silents her song.’ And in many ways, it’s a cheerless way to close it but for me, a resounding, resonating story about harsh, bitter life that simply makes us stronger and hopefully, for the better. – Bryan