Li writes hooks that come out of nowhere and verses that knot around sexual and emotional bruises, grafting pop-R&B melodies onto spartan arrangements that suggest French yé-yé attitude, American hip-hop beats and Euro-dance production (courtesy of producer Björn Yttling of Peter Björn & John). She nails ballads like “Tonight” and “Time Flies,” revealing the range and reach of her voice, and she sounds particularly exuberant on upbeat numbers like “Breaking It Up,” on which she’s joined by an otherworldly choir.
Nevertheless, skip that first track. With icicle synths and faintly droning feedback, “Melodies & Desires” is a dull, spoken-word opener on which Li whispers instructions to a lover or listener, proving that her lyrics are better when sung. But even if a few experiments fall flat, on the rest of Youth Novels Li is as witty and self-possessed, even if most of her songs brutally document her emotional masochism. On the minimal “Dance Dance Dance,” which shuffles along on a rimshot-and-brushed-snare rhythm, she sings, “My hips they lie ’cause in reality I’m shy shy shy,” turning Shakira’s hit “Hips Don’t Lie” into a wounded metaphor for an abusive relationship.
Like her Scandinavian peers, Li is just as strident and assertive as she is vulnerable and aching. The pounding “I’m Good, I’m Gone”—with one of the album’s most infectious hooks (as well as a great video)—is a potent kiss-off to a luckless guy: “You’ll be calling but I won’t be at the phone,” she sings in hip-hop phrasing. But Youth Novels is ultimately more celebratory than angry or mopey, with Li finding cathartic joy in the simple act of making music.
