SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: LYKKE LI – I NEVER LEARN

Lykke Li
I Never Learn
EMI/Atlantic 

The mysterious music of Lykke Li brings pleasure, pain, sadness and joy among other intense feelings. Her unique style of swooping ambient sounds with an eerily beautiful voice will stun you and have you immediately hooked. Li’s most recent release, I Never Learn is a masterpiece and was brought to life with the AMAZING production skills of Björn Yttling (Peter Bjorn and John, David Lynch, Young Folks), which resulted in an unparalleled collection of power ballads that are soon to make this young Swedish star a household name worldwide.

Li wastes no time getting to her most potent material with track one, “I Never Learn”. This wonderful song is one of the more robust offerings without question; it starts with a George Harrison style acoustic strum, which has the potential of going in multiple directions, however, when the vocals begin it’s clear that there’s something much deeper at work here. As the chilling vocals and orchestration are introduced, the overall sound locks solidly into place as a dark ambient indie release. Track two, “No Rest For The Wicked” is the album’s first single and is currently getting the young songstress plenty of attention on radio and TV. She recently performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel Live to a packed L.A. crowd. As the album meanders through dark and unsettling places, I come across “Never Gonna Love Again”, an absolute showstopper of s song. Its anthemic chorus was pretty much made for Hollywood; I wouldn’t be surprised if it appears in a big budget movie very soon. I would have LOVED to hear a pre-chorus in this song, but I’ll take it either way — it’s way too catchy to resist. The song that truly personifies this somber album is “Sleeping Alone”; you can actually hear and feel heartbreak in the young woman’s voice, after all, she did write this entire album shortly after a messy breakup with her boyfriend. Bookending a pretty much perfect release is the song “Heart of Steel”, yet another amazing power ballad that showcases a gospel choir; it will simply leave you breathless.

I very rarely come across an album that merits five stars and I truly feel this one deserves a six. Li’s heartfelt songs brought tears, chills, happiness, goose bumps and a full range of feelings like nothing I’ve never experienced before while listening to a record. This album is simply a MUST HAVE.

Andre Skinner (Twitter @andreskinner)

lykkeli.com/splash/ineverlearn