Lykke Li - Youth Novels

I know that this is lazy, but I'm going to do it anyway: Lykke Li is like a cross between Annie and Robyn. Her sparse electro-pop has a lot going for it, particularly a sense of a certain delicate artistry at work and genuine emotion woven into it, but it's one of those albums which would really have benefited from some trimming of songs - after scene-setting opener "Melodies & Desires", Youth Novels leads off with three of its best songs, "Dance, Dance, Dance", "I'm Good, I'm Gone" and "Let It Fall", before disappearing into trough of four consecutive tracks without a decent melody between them ("My Love", "Tonight", "Little Bit" and "Hanging High"). After that, following the interlude of "This Trumpet In My Head", it picks up a bit with "Complaint Department" and then scores big with an excellent, diverse run home ("Breaking It Up", "Everybody But Me", "Time Flies", "Window Blues") which highlights all of her strengths - strong melodies, arrangements which give the songs space to breathe, and creatively conceived, sparingly used details.