It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from the great Swedish pop singer Lykke Li. She released I Never Learn, her excellently heart-shattered breakup album, way back in 2014. Since then, she’s had a baby, she’s taken a break from performing, and she’s made some music with the Swede-pop collective LIV. But now, after teasing new music, she’s back with a new album, and she’s shared a couple of tracks from it.
Later this spring, Lykke Li will return with the new LP so sad, so sexy — a title that, quite frankly, sounds like something that somebody might yell in Zoolander. She’s also shared “Hard Rain” and “Deep End,” the album’s first two tracks. We don’t yet know too much about the album, but we do know that she’s been putting in work with some serious professionals. Lykke Li’s partner and her baby’s father, the big-name pop producer Jeff Bhasker, co-produced “Deep End” with Malay and T-Minus, while Rostam, formerly of Vampire Weekend, handled production on “Hard Rain.” Meanwhile, the Portland rapper Aminé appears on the album track “Two Nights.”
“Hard Rain” is a hazy, synth-driven ballad, a gorgeously sideways take on pop music that seems to occupy some middle ground between recent-vintage Bon Iver and Take Care-era Drake. And on “Deep End,” Lykke Li surfs a straight-up trap beat, finding beauty in it.
Tracklist:
01 “Hard Rain”
02 “Deep End”
OVERALL RATING
4 stars
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