Thursday 11 December 2014

Albums of the Year 2014 #12 Lykke Li - I Never Learn


Better to have lost in love than never to have loved at all, or so the saying goes. We’re not sure if Lykke Li would agree. The title of this record, I Never Learn, says it all. Lykke Li has had another failed relationship and this album is another record of heartache and sadness, which also finds the singer becoming ever harder, ever more cynical. “There’s no hope for the weary,” she sings on No Rest For The Wicked. Elsewhere the titles say it all: Never Gonna Love Again, Heart Of Steel, Sleeping Alone. Yes, this isn't Lykke Li's happy album. Again.

Unfortunately for Lykke Li, from her hurt comes pleasure for listeners; I Never Learn wallows in big sad bruised ballads that the emo in us finds rather beautiful. Sure, if you want uplifting chirpy pop I Never Learn really isn’t the record to put on (fact: it really doesn’t work when played in a car with a group of friends on the way to an event you’re all looking forward to), but for those moments of stillness when you’re alone these songs are ones to immerse yourself in. 

Lykke Li has now released three albums. Each of them has found favour with Breaking More Waves. Wounded Rhymes in 2011 was 9th in our albums of the year list, Youth Novels was 7th in 2008. Now I Never Learn comes in 12th in 2014.

Lykke Li - No Rest For The Wicked (Video)

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