#LYKKE LI HARD RAIN SERIES#

Not that itвЂ™s a competition but from the crystallisation of reluctance вЂњwhen everybodyвЂ™s dancing, I donвЂ™t want to.вЂќ to вЂњsex, money, feelings, die, baby donвЂ™t you cry.вЂќ there are too many contenders for the shimmering crown of melancholic bliss. On Spotify вЂLate Night FeelingsвЂ™ has had 67 million plays - yes, sixty-seven MILLION! And only a third of of them were me. my heart keeps pulling in the wrong decision.вЂќ Imagine if you not only wrote that line but it became a mainstream hit. However, the medium is often the message but not always because sometimes the message is вЂњI lay in silence, the silence talks. IвЂ™m aware a male rock critic describing a womanвЂ™s voice at any greater length would be creepy (if it isnвЂ™t a bit already). Shards of glass erupt and glitter as they spray. rubber and smoke sprawls in super slow motion. Listening to her voice live or on almost anyoneвЂ™s track, whether itвЂ™s her recent sad banger hit with Mark Ronson or a resurrected tune with Royksopp, thereвЂ™s an unmistakable pause, like the air skids to a stop. I say this because thereвЂ™s something about the way Lykke makes the air move that hits so different to almost anyone else. Sound is the vibration of air, which makes the best producers electrocardiographers, capturing the pulse of someoneвЂ™s heart and soul. Many say that photography is the art of capturing light. ItвЂ™s that filled void that a listener shares in headphones and it feels intensely intimate, even though thereвЂ™s a distant cool gloom to everything Lykke does. ItвЂ™s perhaps in the textures created in the space between her exhalations and the microphone where Lykke LiвЂ™s magic illuminates. Sighs in various stages of ecstasy and exasperation. Perhaps itвЂ™s the way her voice plumes around the microphone. ItвЂ™s such more pervasive and powerful than that. Hard and heavy and oppressive her music is not. Whilst Lykke may have tried to fool us by opening her most recent album with with an all-lowercase string-nest entitled вЂhard rainвЂ™, thereвЂ™s just something about her music that feels more omnidirectional than that. LetвЂ™s get back to walking in a misty wood with sad piano laments overpowering the mulch underfoot. Still with me? I wonвЂ™t go on for much longer, promise. IвЂ™ve also made it track one on the playlist that will accompany these Unhappy Hour missives: subscribe here. If youвЂ™re reading this and have never heard this song or havenвЂ™t let its fug sprawl around you for a while, I donвЂ™t mind if you feel compelled to run off and listen to it right away. IвЂ™d assume IвЂ™ll one day meet someone who has it as a tattoo - if I havenвЂ™t already! вЂ Motown rimshots snap beneath the lines вЂњsorrow, the only lover IвЂ™ve ever known.вЂќ which hangs in the air, holding out its hand for the follow up вЂњsorrow the only lover I can call my own.вЂќ Its mitten strings untangle as Lykke slowly pirouettes into вЂњsadness is my boyfriend, oh sadness IвЂ™m your girl.вЂќ ItвЂ™s such a killer line. ItвЂ™s one of those snow globe crescendos that swirls but also feels motionless amid a flood of emotion. If youвЂ™re so inclined, you may feel at one with the cloud when вЂSadness is a BlessingвЂ™ makes its final descent. Pick any of her four albums on a day where itвЂ™s less like tears are falling from heaven and closer to that feeling of walking through a dragonвЂ™s breath. Headphones are a must for me on any walk (sorry, nature!) and from a lot of research, I can confirm that thereвЂ™s nothing more perfect than Lykke Li on a drizzly day. Here's the first edition to give you a taste of what's to come.

#LYKKE LI HARD RAIN SERIES#

DiS founder launches new Unhappy Hour newsletter & playlist series to go with the monthly Drowned in Sound radio show (more info below).

Lykke li hard rain