(Aight, I put on my robe and wizard hat. © 2008 Benjamin Luk.)
Happily filling the gap between the surrealistic British dreaminess of Bat For Lashes and the wild French effervescence of electro-pop star Yelle, Lykke Li stands out as a Swedish powerhouse of addictive indie melodies. Capable of switching back and forth between bitter evocative jazz vocals in “Window Blues” to suddenly bringing the house down with the passive-aggressively danceable “Breaking It Up”, Lykke is pop at its most intelligent and energetic.
On a side note, it seems like dancing onstage has lost its finesse somewhere along the line. Van Morrison used to get a crowd going apeshit just by kicking the air on a cymbal crash, but watching opening band The Friendly Fires’ lead singer Ed Macfarlane thrust, gyrate and swivel his hips just two inches from my face may have been a bit more male crotch action than I was looking for. (Stellar show though, and a perfect primer for Lykke herself.) When Lykke took the stage, she was like fireworks on Mardi Gras. She immediately set herself to work, percussively demolishing her tambourine with a drumstick, bells and whistles breaking off and flying into the crowd during “Dance Dance Dance”. Following suit with her lyrics, Lykke headbanged her way across the floor, had an intimate pole dance moment with her mic stand, then vaulted into convulsive gorilla chest-pounding during one of the many extended solos. Feedback and various other sound issues almost killed “I’m Good, I’m Gone” but Lykke’s energy was infectious, and if she barely even noticed or cared, why should we?
Then the first surprise of the night: a lick on the guitar that sounded like frat boy afro-pop. Before I’d even registered that it was a cover, Lykke and her backing band were already bobbing their way through Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”. Rocketing off into “Complaint Department”, her exuberance just kept ramping up and up. Knocking drum mics off-axis then doubling back to fix them missing nary a beat, by the time she finished, she had a puffed-up do like sex hair. Closing on an explosive rendition of “Breaking It Up”, we thought for sure she wouldn’t be able to top that in the encore. But when she came back, she blew us all away by rapping through a cover of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?”. (Yes, she can!)
Even her guitarist was grinning away like a madman, wondering how the fuck they were getting away with it.
Lykke Li's Vancouver Set List (as taken directly from the hard copy):
Pearce and I both caught up with Lykke at the merch table after her show. Yes, we embarrassed ourselves as fanboys, but I figure it's one of the fringe benefits of our job.
Not surprisingly, Lykke also turned out to be a pretty cool chick.
Special thanks to Erin at Timbre Productions.
On a side note, it seems like dancing onstage has lost its finesse somewhere along the line. Van Morrison used to get a crowd going apeshit just by kicking the air on a cymbal crash, but watching opening band The Friendly Fires’ lead singer Ed Macfarlane thrust, gyrate and swivel his hips just two inches from my face may have been a bit more male crotch action than I was looking for. (Stellar show though, and a perfect primer for Lykke herself.) When Lykke took the stage, she was like fireworks on Mardi Gras. She immediately set herself to work, percussively demolishing her tambourine with a drumstick, bells and whistles breaking off and flying into the crowd during “Dance Dance Dance”. Following suit with her lyrics, Lykke headbanged her way across the floor, had an intimate pole dance moment with her mic stand, then vaulted into convulsive gorilla chest-pounding during one of the many extended solos. Feedback and various other sound issues almost killed “I’m Good, I’m Gone” but Lykke’s energy was infectious, and if she barely even noticed or cared, why should we?
Then the first surprise of the night: a lick on the guitar that sounded like frat boy afro-pop. Before I’d even registered that it was a cover, Lykke and her backing band were already bobbing their way through Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”. Rocketing off into “Complaint Department”, her exuberance just kept ramping up and up. Knocking drum mics off-axis then doubling back to fix them missing nary a beat, by the time she finished, she had a puffed-up do like sex hair. Closing on an explosive rendition of “Breaking It Up”, we thought for sure she wouldn’t be able to top that in the encore. But when she came back, she blew us all away by rapping through a cover of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?”. (Yes, she can!)
Even her guitarist was grinning away like a madman, wondering how the fuck they were getting away with it.
Lykke Li's Vancouver Set List (as taken directly from the hard copy):
- Dance
- Let It Fall
- Im Good [sic]
- Hanging High
- Cape Cod
- Little Bit
- Complaint
- After
- Window Blues
- I Don't Mind
- Breaking
- Tonight*
- Can I Kick It*
Pearce and I both caught up with Lykke at the merch table after her show. Yes, we embarrassed ourselves as fanboys, but I figure it's one of the fringe benefits of our job.
(I shot the top, Pearce shot the bottom. I'm always the top.)
Not surprisingly, Lykke also turned out to be a pretty cool chick.
Special thanks to Erin at Timbre Productions.
* * * * *
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