At first glance Sweden’s Lykke Li Zachrisson may seem to have all the careerist chutzpah of Jesse J but the manic reaction to her debut album, Youth Novels, sent her into a personal and professional tailspin. Freaked by the attention and with a failed romance to deal with, she fled to LA to write this follow up. You can tell she’s still in the recovery position. Wounded Rhymes is a fragile affair and Miss Li’s voice takes on a cracked timbre on the likes of 'I Know Places', a lover’s lament if there ever was one, the innocence defiled of a Phil Spector girl band on the wonderful 'Sadness is a Blessing'. She returns to the primal voodoo properties of 'Youth Novels' on 'Jerome', and there is some very inventive percussion of 'I Follow Rivers'. However, what marks Zachrisson out as something a bit special is the closing track, 'Silent My Song'. It sounds like the music to a sacrificial ritual and guess who’s on the altar? `
Alan Corr
