Lykke Li: Wounded Rhymes – review

"Girlish" has to be the most overused word to describe Swedish singer Li's debut album, 2008's sometimes saccharine, sometimes sparkling Youth Novels . But she's done some growing up since then. Her second album is a formidable collection of all-woman 21st-century torch songs that reverberate with vengeance and desolation. The arrangements are still stark and driven by syncopated handclaps and off-kilter drums, but now, voice creaking with heartache, she sounds like she's casting dark spells rather than serenading daydreams. The Shirelles-like "shoo-wop"s on "Unrequited Love" might be the most affecting sounds you'll hear all year.