Lykke Li: I Never Learn
Lykke Li
I Never LearnÂ
(Atlantic Records)
Lykke Li’s third album, I Never Learn, is as emotional as its title sounds. Twenty-eight-year-old Swedish singer Li was “gunshot” to the heart by an ex-lover. Grab a box of tissues for nine melancholy low-key tracks for a slice of indie pop gone lonely. Her voice is memsmerizing with hypntoic sparkles over piano progressions and light guitar strumming that gives off the vibe that she will “never love again.” The album bares her entire soul with cliches everywhere.
Bringin’ indie pop back, Li adds too much ’emo’ to I Never Learn. She sinks into her bad mood further and further in each track. To think that the track “I Never Learn” is the least painstaking compared to the others; it almost hinders the beauty of the acoustic symphony. For a short poem, skip to “No Rest For The Wicked.” Its brutally honest lyrics, “I let my good one down/I let my true love die. I had his heart, but I broke it every time.”
Ironically enough, Li is stunned by her damaged heart in “Just Like A Dream” a metaphor for her fog-like dream that’s now lost. “Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone” says “Love me deep until you can’t/Even though it hurts/Even though it scars.” It has references to stones, dreams, and steel hearts. By the end of I Never Learn, it’s like a hangover in a vicious depressant cycle. Warning: it drastically effects moods.
