release date: Jan. 30, 2008
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Björn Yttling, Lasse Mårtén
label: LL Recordings - nationality: Sweden
Track highlights: 2. "Dance, Dance, Dance" - 3. "I'm Good, I'm Gone" - 4. "Let It Fall" - 6. "Tonight" - 7. "Little Bit" - 11. "Breaking It Up"
Full length studio album debut following the 2007 ep Little Bit by Swedish singer and songwriter Lykke Li [full name: Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson, daughter of photographer Kärsti Stiege and guitarist Johan 'Zilverzurfarn' Zachrisson of the Swedish band Dag Vag]. All three songs from her debut ep are included on this album [tracks #7, #12 and #13]. Most songs are written with producer and multi-instrumentalist Björn Yttling. Initially, the album was issued in Sweden only but it had its international release in June with the addition of two songs [tracks #6 & #12].
The music is predominantly an art pop release with different influences that dominate specific tracks with soul, indietronica and chamber pop as the most evident styles.
I only came across this album after listening to her acclaimed follow-up album Wounded Rhymes from 2011, and what strikes me about Youth Novels is that it's a rather different album with much more focus on indietronica - or perhaps more precisely: a broader album that only seems harder to label.
Generally, the album was met by positive reviews - in Sweden but also internationally, and Li and the album was nominated in five categories at the Swedish Grammis reward show in 2005.
I like the tone and mood it facilitates but don't find it as accessible as her later works, although, it's evident that it has obvious qualities in terms of artistic originality. What I find lacking are simply a bunch of memorable tunes, though I think that some compositions echo drafts to later successes.
All in all the album is a nice and warm uplifting debut.
[ allmusic.com, NME, The Times 4 / 5, Rolling Stone, Spin 3,5 / 5 stars ]
