samedi 14 Aoû 2010, 17h44m

So I picked up a bunch of new albums for myself the other day and haven't quite got around to listening to them yet. Seeing as how I've had a fairly uninspiring day and am foreseeing a particularly sleepless night, I figured I might as well put them on now and share my completely meaningless and half-baked opinions with you, the Last.FM public. I'm sure you're thrilled.;) I'm going to do them track-by-track, and I'll do a separate journal for each to avoid an epic wall-of-text. Anyhoooo…

First up is Youth Novels by Lykke Li. Pretty old, I know, but still. I can't really remember what provoked me to buy this one, and I have no idea how to pronounce her name (Is it Lykkuh? Lykkee? Like? Help me out here…), but she's been compared to Bat For Lashes on this very site and that's never a bad thing. Let's take a look…

Track 1 - Melodies & Desires
Liking the icy, olde-worlde synth intro. Very glacial, very Scandinavian. Fittingly, I suppose, she is Swedish after all. Huh, I guess that's her speaking… I was expecting a much stronger accent, I don't know why. Not that I'm complaining, this is…pleasant. Very soothing. With the repeated mantra of 'Love is the harmony, desire is the key' and 'I'll be the rythm, you'll be the beat', combined with the extremely minimalist background, I'm getting… I dunno, almost a Zen feel off this track. Good opener.

Track 2 - Dance, Dance, Dance
OK, we're getting a bit of life here with that clattery beat. WHOA. Is that Ms. Li singing there? My word. She sounds about 6 years old. Not usually a fan of voices like this, but it's working with the upbeat mood of this track so far. I'll just wait and see if she can keep my interest through the rest of the album. Haha, the random interjection of the trumpet made me laugh, in a good way. Another good track, but it probably won't stay with me like the first one.

Track 3 - I'm Good, I'm Gone
Not really a fan of the distorted vocals at the start, it sounds like whoever's doing them is holding his noise. This track's got a nice groove to it though, the piano and the drums are combining well. Sounds a bit…familiar though, and not really in a good way. Her vocals are a little less squeaky here, and her accent's finally starting to show up, which can only be a good thing. Still, definitely the weakest track so far. But it's early days yet.

Track 4 - Let It Fall
Apart from the fact that she starts off sounding like she's trying to do a Damon Albarn impression, I really like the vocals on this track. She's pretty much hit the sweet spot, not too squeaky, but not too bland either. I like that bassline as well, despite its simplicity. Otherwise, this track just kinda…floats past. It's fluff, but pretty impressive fluff nonetheless.

Track 5 - My Love
I have to say, I don't really like this one. It just sounds a bit dated, really… And it sounds like she's got a horse doing backing vocals. Conjures up images of dodgy romantic comedies and sleazy, greasy-looking Spanish men. Not something I really want a song to do to me…

Track 6 - Tonight
Ahhhh… That is a nice intro. Quivering, slow-burning synths, leading up to piano and vocals, leading up to some surprisingly loud drums and a chorus which really sticks in your head. Though I hope I misheard and she's not saying 'Dry my ass' at the start… We're definitely back on form here, really enjoying the melancholy atmosphere and overall sound of this track, and it's the best showcase so far for what she can achieve vocally when she really wants to. Possibly a bit long though, but that's really just looking for niggles.

Track 7 - Little Bit
Here we have it, the lead single, and the title track of her first EP. And it's easy to see why, it's got a strong, danceable beat and a chorus that drips beautifully out of your speakers. And to those guitars sound kinda…Asian-influenced to anyone else? Really sweet, laid-back tune that I'm probably gonna be humming for hours; it's clear that she's found her groove by this point. Hopefully she can keep it up.

Track 8 - Hanging High
This one seems a little bit…darker, I guess, than the others on the album. It doesn't really work… Li's better when she stays poppy. This just doesn't really fit that well.

Track 9 - This Trumpet In My Head
Well, this is…different. Very sparse, in a haunting kind of way. Very spooky. Definitely feeling the Bat For Lashes comparisons here. It's got a good atmosphere, but I would've preferred it without the little mariachi trumpet in there. I know, I know, it's in the title, but I think it works just fine without it. I'd actually kinda like this one to be a bit longer as well. But it's still good enough as it is.

Track 10 - Complaint Department
I love that bass synth. If Li's voice weren't so squeaky and cute, it'd actually be quite menacing. And those drums just make everything better, this is one of the best beats in the album yet. This song actually reminds me of a less evil cousin of Where Is The Line by Bjork. Remember when I said she's better when she's poppy? I stand corrected. In fact, the further into this one I go, the more I like it. Probably my second-favourite on the album so far, just behind Tonight. The bouncy drum noises towards the end of this one lose it some points.

Track 11 - Breaking It Up
Oh, this is good. Love those group vocals, even if they do remind me of Grange Hill for some reason. Never even watched that show… The way everything comes together in the chorus is absolutely glorious, especially after the rather quiet and subdued verses and breaks, and it's the most danceable song yet. Perfect little pop song, and the best one on the album so far by quite a distance.

Track 12 - Everybody But Me
This sounds like a Semifinalists or jj song. And is it just me, or has the drummer really been enjoying themselves over the last two or three tracks…? This is decent enough, but there's no real hook to it, and since I'm still riding a Breaking It Up induced high, it seems terribly slow. Still, there's no denying that this 3-song burst is her strongest straight run of good songs yet. Just a bit of a pity it took this long.

Track 13 - Time Flies
Li's gone back to the six-year-old-on-helium affectations of Dance, Dance, Dance on this track, but my god, does it work. There's something really tender and… Well, beautiful about this one that I can't quite put my finger on, and it's wrapped up almost entirely in the vocals, though that's not discounting the instrumental contributions by any means. This really took me by surprise, to be honest, I really enjoyed it.

Track 14 - Window Blues
Just going to throw this out now, I'm normally fairly wary of any song that has the word Blues in the title. Call it a prejudice. And this one starts off with a big, stompy piano and bass drum sounding like the theme tune of some pantomime villain, so… Slightly on guard here. It's actually got kind of a weird, Wild West-y feel to it. I don't really like it… It could've worked earlier in the album, but Time Flies sounded like it should've been the closer.

And there we have it. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by Youth Novels. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but despite some inconsistency and a few weak moments (I'm looking at you, My Love and Hanging High) it's actually quite a pleasure to listen to, especially towards the latter half of the album when she really starts churning out the good stuff. Favourite tracks are Breaking It Up, Time Flies and Complaint Department.