“Let’s talk about the album. It was a motherfucker to make,” Lykke Li told an audience gathered to hear her sixth studio album ‘Afterparty’ at a playback in Los Angeles earlier this year. Offsetting her need to make something more “extroverted, impulsive and chaotic” than predecessor ‘EYEYE’, as she told NME, against the cultural backdrop of Trump and AI while raising two kids, the Swedish alt-pop icon found herself in a place that “feels like it’s 4am and the sun is going to rise”. This is the last push before the hangover, the fear and the consequences kick in; a fitting feeling for what she’s said could be her last album.
Some say goodbyes should be short, and this last waltz comes in at just nine songs and 24 minutes. “No angels here tonight, no dancing queens,” she immediately sets the scene on opener and ode to those early hours sat cross-legged, ‘Not Gon Cry’ – with that plus the skittering pop-noir of ‘Happy Now’ and the inverted ABBA disco of ‘Lucky Now’ blending the DNA of the danceable but raw alt-folk of her early work with that more streetwise strut from ‘So Sad, So Sexy’ and the mirrorball flashes of 2019 Mark Ronson collab ‘Late Night Feelings’.
The comedown comes early as the sumptuous sadness of the orchestral-led ‘Famous Last Words’ shares the lessons learned too late after a life of late nights (“I had to crash and burn to tell the tale”), before the sweet robotic acoustic ballad of ‘Future Fear’ meets the impending dread head-on (“I’m going to a dark place, do you need anything?”). Then, the sunrise gem of ‘So Happy I Could Die’ recounts the moments that last from the witching hour while we’re “slipping through the hourglass”.
She paints a vivid picture of a messy night and morning after with the heart and honesty of her best work, seeking revenge to “make you beg for it” after rejection on ‘Sick Of Love’ (imagine if a song could be a friend to Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’). Album highlight and certain encore-starter ‘Knife In The Heart’ fulfils her mission to be the “rock god” and “fuck boy”, as she returns that “you can spit, you can walk on me” but she won’t be broken, all over one of the most entrancing bops she’s made in years.
Just like this album, the cinematic closer ‘Euphoria’ reminds us that life and times like these weren’t built to last: “Player play your song, waste the night away”. With strings, beats and love, Lykke Li slammed down a heady shot to call time. Here’s hoping she’s got at least another round left in her.
The post Lykke Li – ‘Afterparty’ review: a brief but heady last round from the Swedish alt-pop icon appeared first on NME.