You can't go home again, but it doesn't really matter, does it? You never really leave. Lykke Li decided to make her sophomore album, Wounded Rhymes, in Los Angeles; about as far away meteorologically and geographically as she could get from her native Sweden. And yet, like a window that you can't quite shut or, more accurately, a place you can't quite forget, the feel of a cold dark winter permeates this wonderful, strange and sensual album.

Recorded in the trendy Echo Park neighborhood of L.A. and produced by Peter, Bjorn & John's Björn Yttling, Wounded Rhymes finds Lykke Li playing the role of conduit. She takes in a dizzying array of sounds and influences and spits them back out in a decidedly unique fashion. It's a primal album, with many songs built from the beat up. It should come as no surprise that Lykke Li was fond of covering Lil Wayne's slithering "A Milli" in concert; this is a woman who clearly draws power from rhythm. Nowhere is this more evident than on the hypnotizing fist single, "Get Some," where Lykke turns the simple count of "Iko Iko" into an swirling, dark, electro storm with Pentacostal sermon-like power.

Whether she's laying… read more »