LATECOMER: Lykke Li – Get Some/Paris Blue
Basically, I could of downloaded this almost instantly when it was released but hotmail was down. My Macbook was playing up. I forgot. Things got in the way. Anyway, that won’t distract from the fact that the Swedish songstress has returned. Her brilliant 2008 album, Youth Novels, definitely left people wanting more, though I can’t help but feel she was slightly forgotten over recent months. I myself only recently found myself going back to the album a week or so before this dropped and remembering how good a lot of the songs on it are. This explosive dropping of new material however, has thrust her a bit centre-stage.
“Get Some” is immediately angry, with a rollicking drum beat and fuzzy, distorted beats that contrast with Lykke’s vocals. It’s nice to hear this distinct and different style, her voice even sounds more wraith-like, angry and enthused with music that sounds blatantly threatening and some not-so-subtle sexually advancing lyrics. It’s brilliant and although it’s aggressiveness cuts a different shape to the glossy electronic beats of songs like “Little Bit” it’s a welcome diversity that although different still harks back to that album. The b-side, “Paris Blue”, however, is totally and wholly different. It’s nice and sombre, but possibly too depressing? I’m not so sure. It’s nice, definitely, but “Get Some” is obviously and strongly the a-side of the two tracks. Download them from her website
Also, by listening to Lykke Li i was reminded of her brilliant cover/remix of the Kings Of Leon third-album opener “Knocked Up” a remixed working of the song that adds a lovely feminine perspective to a song that always had a really strong lyrical narrative. Well, it was on the last album that featured KOL actually making interesting music. I thought I’d include it as a kind of bonus, download and enjoy it below.