Saturday, June 20, 2009

Summer Atmospherics

Last week I picked up copies of Lykke Li's "Youth Novels" album and another Madeleine Peyroux (her best according to some) by the name of "Careless Love". I'd been wanting these two for a while now but simply hadn't found the funds in my meager budget for music. It's funny that something so aesthetically important can't compete with my love for fashion...


Regardless of "Youth Novels" quality as an album, Lykke Li is an artist that I admire on so many levels. Her sound is not quite groundbreaking, but she does have an incredible knack for picking out simple but yet high impact melodies. I would describe her music as an assortment of primitive/tribal electronic sounds with folky undertones set in an urban background. And I hope my initial comment didn't phase you, because I really do believe that "Youth Novels" is a great album with equally great songwriting. Try "Let it Fall" and "Little Bit" to experience something that could easily have been pseudo-Bjork or "hipster" but rose above both of those things, artistically speaking.


I began listening to Madeleine Peyroux towards the end of the spring season. At the time I was searching for music that felt like it fit my ideals of feminism. Something with a timeless feel, a milky voice, bittersweet instruments for bittersweet melodies yet something with a sense of progress. Peyroux is really all these things and "Careless Love" does not fall short of the description aforementioned. I don't know if it means the same as "Half the Perfect World" did for me, nor do I know if "Bare Bones" (an album entirely of her own songs) will compare to the well roundedness of "Careless Love". Listen to "Between the Bars".

Her rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the End of Love" is really great.
Anyways, Madeleine Peyroux is sort of my...spirit of summer, if you will.


On a final note, I feel like looking out at the world with the same gaze as the young and dapper Miss Gloria Swanson...



Don't we all?

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