Lykke Li

still sad still sexy

RCA Records

Lykke Li chronicled quiet sorrow with flighty whim in Youth Novels, found electronic power in Wounded Rhymes, and withdrew into a vast starry landscape in I Never Learn. Her 2018 album, so sad so sexy, tripped into trap, chronicling the sparse landscape beyond heartbreak with the eerie fragility so typical of her work.

Also centered around a steady beat and catchy verses, her follow-up, still sad still sexy, recreates recent work. Integrating hip-hop into the synthetic world of her last record and inviting collaborations with Skrillex and Ty Dolla $ign, Lykke Li offers remixes and redos that add new dimensions to old songs.

Intensity is achieved through simplicity. “deep end” and “so sad so sexy” are slowed down and stripped to their bare vocal essentials, and then gradually expanded with orchestral grace. New song “baby doves” is both danceable and woeful, while “neon” embraces the anthemic vibrance of power-pop.

The six-track project revitalizes some of Lykke Li’s less memorable work, breathing new life into old material without going too far. Fairy-like charm meets melancholic minimalism in this EP, which acts as a sampler of whatever she’ll come up with next.

Best Track: Deep End (MIX LIM)

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