June 10, 2009

Lykke Li//I'm Good, I'm Gone

Oh Hell Yes Please and Thank You: Chain Reaction Week!
Yesterday’s last word was: Good.

Sweden’s Lykke Li’s (real name: Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson, so you can see why she doesn’t go by that) first album, Youth Novel, got a lot of hype upon release. I have to say, I think it was all just that; hype.

To disagree with the “blogosphere” (I’ve always hated that term) at large, I don’t like this album. To me, it feels flat, poorly written and somewhat shoddily produced—catchy, but fluffy; mostly unremarkable. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t particularly love the “mix of soul, electro and ‘powdered-sugar pop’” (Pitchfork, duh) that her style embodies. I think, if you’re looking for good indie music coming out of Sweden, there are plenty of people doing it way better than Li.

That said, Li might have just one really, really good idea in her life and that idea, I think, is this song (no surprise that her album was produced by another one-hit-wonder Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John--maybe it’s contagious). I heard this track first, loved that sexy, bassy piano line set against her willowy-but-solid voice, thought she was awesome and got the album. Learn from my mistakes. Just download this and feel good about it. The word of the day is good and this is really good…but it’s also as good as it gets.



I'm Good, I'm Gone.mp3

You’ll be calling but I won’t be at the phone.

Chain Reaction is also a 1996 movie starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Morgan Freeman, and Fred Ward, a game show, an episode of the television series Stargate SG-1 and a BBC Radio 4 chat show. Ha.

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