CD Review: Lykke Li

Lykke Li is Swedish pop's Santigold to Robyn's M.I.A. Robyn has the ideas and bares her heart, soul, and brains: Li is a consistent but more roughly defined artist along for the ride whose vision for her darker and moodier second album doesn't get much deeper than its song titles. Producer Bjorn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn and John) sets Li up with spy blues ("Get Some") and pretty ballads ("Love Out of Lust"), but Li often washes out of her own ambience. Still, some inspired tricks help parts of Wounded Rhymes stand out: There's the darkly sarcastic swamp rock of "Rich Kid Blues," "Unrequited Love"'s shoo-bop-shoo-bops, and "Sadness Is a Blessing," where Li sings over familiar chord plunks that have served hundreds of other dour pop songs through the years. — Dan Weiss