fuckyeahbeardeddudelykkeli.tumblr.com doesn’t appear to be have been taken yet, if you fancy it…
[Video][Website]
[6.00]
Martin Skidmore: I approve of the fact that so many Swedes hark back to ’60s girl groups. Here it is combined with more overtly modern production, but there is a quest for a Spectorish sound in some areas. However, I don’t think she’s a very exciting singer, and the song is tepid and kind of stiff.
[4]
Alfred Soto: No words chill the bone like “Swedish indie singer,” especially when they sing as if they’re auditioning for the Helena Bonham Carter part in the Harry Potter series. So I’ll let one rivers31334, who commented on the YouTube clip, do the reviewing: “I think that the man is running from death & Lykke Li represents the Grim Reaper, the Angel Of Death or whatever you want to call it. In the end he gives up & accepts his fate & she comforts him & gives him the kiss of death. Then she looks at the camera as if to say “Your time will come too”. The video clip is saying we can run from it all we like but death will follow us all our lives until it eventually catches up to us. Does anyone agree?”
[3]
Jer Fairall: Pleasantly reminiscent of “Hounds of Love”-era Kate Bush in its high gloss production, but the song itself needs to choose to either be a lot stranger in one direction or a lot frothier in another for it to register as anything more than a canny revival of one particular template for the latest batch of Quirky Female Singer/Songwriters.
[5]
Edward Okulicz: I don’t know if Lykke Li’s particular sound, evident on both her albums, is deliberate, but it’s flattening not flattering, and often seems like oddness for its own sake. Such suspicions are confirmed when the fairly straight-forward chorus perks things up considerably, short as it is. It sounds like a good song is waiting to get out, so why all the layers of perky, quirky obfuscation? Still, I’ll be humming that chorus for days.
[7]
Alex Ostroff: Lykke Li always had the tunes, but on Youth Novels her arrangements were too anemic and her voice too reserved for my tastes. “I Follow Rivers” adds low end and some steel in place of her past meekness. The clattering percussion and riffs of a slightly detuned orchestra ensure that the song sounds a little bit ‘off.’ Confident, but not entirely at ease.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: This reminds me of no one so much as Martina Topley-Bird in her sinuous The Blue God guise. The resemblance is mostly in the voice, transposed an octave down since Youth Novels likely as a response to everyone in the world ever calling it cutesy. Unfortunately, this means she’s now going flat every three words; fortunately, there’s one of those pinball clatters to balance out every bum note.
[7]
Kat Stevens: Gamelan madness! I heartily approve. Luckily I heard this clank-a-thon on the radio before I knew who it was by, as previously I’ve always been put off by Ms Li’s name – it makes me think of a yappy cartoon dog.
[7]
Zach Lyon: Reminiscent of the many tracks on Youth Novels that faded into an ugly background — I don’t like her tendency to sing over backing tracks that just sound a little unpleasant and conceptually nauseating (I think this is just me). But the chorus is great, possibly because it reminds me of Future Islands’ wonderful “Beach Foam Baby” and now I’m listening to that.
[7]