While her 2008 breakout, Youth Novels, was quirky and coy, Wounded Rhymes is hungry, dark, dirty.
Somewhat wrongly categorised previously as the latest in a line of pretty-if-a-little-predictable Swedish pop artists; it’s nevertheless a relief to report that Li’s appropriately titled follow-up ’Wounded Rhymes’ has seen the sweet, coy girl of before go all grown up and mature on us.
This is a seriously heavy and seriously excellent album.
In moving firmly away from the happier pop tone of her debut Lykke Li has nonetheless made a better record.
The combination of Wounded Rhymes’s noisy factory ambience and Li’s frayed persona is subtle yet striking, building slowly and purposefully without ever reaching heavy-handed bombast.
The album serves as a bit of a soundtrack for anyone who’s managed to retain a romantic outlook past the age where such a thing is likely realistic, and the bitter struggle of rediscovery that follows.
Gorgeous, unwavering and complex, Wounded Rhymes is an instant companion, lover, enemy and shoulder to cry on.
Li proves a rich and compelling character in her songs, which are dark but also complex, contradictory, and, thank goodness, still rough around the edges.
Perhaps the results aren't quite so poppy as with its predecessor, but Wounded Rhymes is an unfurling joy in every other way.
Wounded Rhymes is the moment Lykke Liu has edged ahead of the pack. And she still understands the value of a mighty percussive wallop.
Li’s explosion of confidence and fearless experimentation add together to create an album that is sensual and immense, as substantial as it is enjoyable.
Li’s new album, Wounded Rhymes, is equal parts seething ice princess and lonely snowwoman, vacillating almost track by track between fury and despondence over a scotched relationship.
It's an inspired, rugged, smart, emotive, coolly modern piece of indie pop, and an improvement on Lykke Li's debut in just about every respect.
At other times, the album works magnificently; more so than anything on her breakthrough debut.
Rhymes is smarter and more mature than 2008's Youth Novels in nearly every conceivable way.
Youth Novels was a cool little hand-drawn doodle done in pencil—this is an oil painting, rich with color and more vivid detail.
Wounded Rhymes‘ moments of true daring are few, but it’s the first indication that Li’s turning a critical eye on her own style—and that she’s got a knack for reinvention.
Wounded Rhymes is a leap forward for Lykke Li, and perhaps, a stepping-stone to an unqualified masterpiece. Her very own Extraordinary Machine.
Like Youth Novels before it, Wounded Rhymes is a mixed bag—the expression of an artist still finding her voice.
The mild disappointment of this record can be firmly classed as a first world problem in itself.
On her sophomore album, Swedish pop singer Lykke Li can’t seem to shake the feelings of restlessness and heartache that marked her debut, Youth Novels. But this time around she’s less ambivalent about what it all means.
On Lykke's second album, she impresses with more elaborate, mature sounding and breathtaking, amplitudinous dark atmosphere. Almost every song is truly brilliant, especially "I Follow Rivers" and "Get Some".
Yet another absolute banger of an album from Lykke Li. Even though I rated this the same as her debut, this is objectively a stronger album, both in its lyrics and its sound. Songs like Get Some are witty and danceable, while Sadness Is a Blessing makes me feel like I’m on tumblr all over again. Also, I would be remiss to not mention the iconic song that is I Follow Rivers (you know you’ve made it when you get a Glee cover of one of your songs). This is an album I’ve revisited ... read more
1 | Youth Knows No Pain 2:59 | 89 |
2 | I Follow Rivers 3:48 | 93 |
3 | Love Out of Lust 4:43 | 82 |
4 | Unrequited Love 3:11 | 79 |
5 | Get Some 3:22 | 89 |
6 | Rich Kids Blues 3:01 | 81 |
7 | Sadness Is a Blessing 4:00 | 82 |
8 | I Know Places 6:26 | 84 |
9 | Jerome 4:22 | 78 |
10 | Silent My Song 5:24 | 77 |
#2 | / | Slant |
#10 | / | One Thirty BPM |
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#19 | / | Clash |
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#23 | / | PopMatters |