A brief, 24-minute burst of shimmering alternative pop by the Swedish singer-songwriter sees this sixth LP’s concept capturing the experience of fictional bad-boy pop star persona, moving from a messy night out into aftermath, variously mixing mood-shifting jubilation, loneliness and comedown. Lykke Li now has two young children and, at 40, is very much settled down, so this narrative is very much a fantasy piece, but the songwriting, alongside collaborators Björn Yttling, Jacob Olofsson, Matthew Castellanos, Max Richter and others, still captures her trademark euphoric-melancholic style, from the galloping, high-octane opener Not Gon Cry into Happy Now, with a clear highlight being Lucky Again, a track of highly polished swooning, soaring chamber-pop, truly uplifting in sound, but with downbeat lyrics: “You there, I am lost / I am bruised, I am broken / No sign I shout into darkness/ No light, it's a black hole.” On the slower, broken piano ballad Famous Last Words she sings: “I’ll show you what it takes to fill the void / To write a sad song … I’ve been a bad boy / Made such a mess / I had to crash and burn to tell the tale.” Moodswings come again on Future Fear which has jittery speeded up voice of insecurity - “I love you, I love you / I don't trust anyone,” yet mercurially also aims to seize the moment: “I’m not young / It’s just late / Kiss me / The sun’s going down / It’s on my tongue.” So Happy I Could Die leaps into an acoustic ecstasy, before the cocksure Sick Of Love: “Television pretty, I know you got the wrong girl… / You’re gonna want me back… I’ll make you beg for it.” Knife In The Heart appropriately has a sonic, ambient discordance, before the contradictory downbeat, slow delivery of Euphoria. Burnout briefly, but brightly. Out on Neon Gold Records/Futures.
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