''Youth Novels'' is the debut studio album by Swedish singer and songwriter

Lykke Li Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson (born 18 March 1986), known as Lykke Li (), is a Swedish singer. Her music often blends elements of indie pop, dream pop and electronic. Her debut studio album, ''Youth Novels'', was released in 2008, and has been fol ...

, released on 30 January 2008 on her own label, the

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

-distributed LL Recordings. The album was entirely produced by

Björn Yttling Björn Daniel Arne Yttling (born 16 October 1974 in Umeå, Sweden) is a Swedish music producer, songwriter, and musician. His production and songwriting credits include Lykke Li, Chrissie Hynde, Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand, Sahara Hotnights, A ...

of Swedish

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band

Peter Bjorn and John Peter Bjorn and John are a Swedish indie pop/rock band formed in Stockholm in 1999, named after the first names of the band's members: Peter Morén (vocals, guitar and harmonica), Björn Yttling (bass guitar, keyboards and vocals) and John Eriks ...

and co-produced by Lasse Mårtén. ''Youth Novels'' spawned four singles: " Little Bit", " I'm Good, I'm Gone", "Breaking It Up" and "Tonight".

Critical reception

''Youth Novels'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 75, based on 27 reviews. Alex Denney of ''

Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

'' praised the album as "a twinkle-toed debut that dares to suggest what others can only make tediously plain, and leaves us in the rarely-enjoyed position of actually wanting more."

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

's Adrien Begrand called it "extraordinary" and described it as "a surprisingly stark-sounding album, an enticing blend of

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...

's unpretentious

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

and

El Perro del Mar El Perro Del Mar (literally "The Dog of the Sea" in Spanish) is a musical project that was founded in December 2003 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The sole member of El Perro Del Mar, Sarah Assbring(born 1977/1978), initially started as an MP3/CD-R artis ...

's introspection and tenderness." ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' critic Tom Gatti noted that Yttling gave ''Youth Novels'' the same treatment as to

's song "

Young Folks "Young Folks" is the first single from Swedish band Peter Bjorn and John's third album, ''Writer's Block'' (released in 2006). The single features Victoria Bergsman as a guest vocalist. The song received generally positive reviews from critics a ...

", stating that he "

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

Lykke Li's girlish, wistful songs of young love and loss into bright pocket symphonies." In a review for ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', Vadim Rizov characterised ''Youth Novels'' as "all teasing and heartbreak, with production ..that plays on empty spaces as much as well-chosen backing", commending Li for "adeptly traddlingthe line between instant gratification and minimalist smarts." Killian Fox of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' commented that " e coquettish charm of i'svoice, tinged with shyness, is brilliantly offset by Björn Yttling's skeletal productions, which create great pop momentum out of the slightest effects", concluding, "The lyrics lack focus at times but this is a winning debut." Greg Cochrane of ''

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'' called the album " mple but sensational". K. Ross Hoffman of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote, "Brimming with ideas but understated, even tentative in executing them, and big on hooks but nervously intimate in presentation, ''Youth Novels'' is a curious, decidedly unorthodox but endearing record." Joe Gross of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' stated that " i'svoice is mousy, the low end juicy, the melodies sketchy, the choruses huge", but found that " e should lose the spoken-word bits, though; they don't even work for her goddess

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

." Tom Ewing of ''

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'' expressed, "At its frequent best, the record manages to sketch out widescreen hit songs with a remarkable economy of means. At its more occasional worst, the tracks feel frustratingly underthought." Will Hermes of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' felt that Li's "frosty squeak is a limited instrument, but she works it, mixing adorable playground scats with spoken-word whispers and parched coos that barely sketch her sugary melodies. The arrangements also dress simple tunes in surprising ways, with odd choral bits and percolating percussion webs that should tease movement from even reluctant hips." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s Maddy Costa opined that the song "Tonight" "shows what she is capable of: underscored by a melancholy piano, she is darkly seductive", but " ter that has passed, the album just gets increasingly cloying."

Accolades

''Youth Novels'' earned Li five nominations for the 2009 Swedish

Grammis The Grammis are music awards presented annually to musicians and songwriters in Sweden. The oldest Swedish music awards, they were instituted as a local equivalent of the Grammy Awards given in the United States. The awards ceremony is generall ...

, including Album of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, Live Act of the Year, Composer of the Year (with Yttling) and Lyricist of the Year. The same year, she won the

P3 Guld P3, P-3, P.3, or P03 may refer to: Entertainment * ''Persona 3'', a 2006 video game * '' Postal III'', a 2011 video game * ''Third'' (Portishead album), 2008 music album * P3 Club, a fictional nightclub in the television series '' Charmed'' * ''P ...

award for Newcomer of the Year and was nominated for Pop Artist of the Year.

Commercial performance

In Li's native Sweden, ''Youth Novels'' debuted and peaked at number three on the

Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...

for the week of 7 February 2008, behind Johnny Logan & Friends' ''The Irish Connection'' and

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

's '' Still on Top – The Greatest Hits''. It spent 20 non-consecutive weeks altogether on the chart, including four re-entries in 2008 and one on 30 January 2009. The album charted for a sole week in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, reaching numbers 112 and 75, respectively. In continental Europe, ''Youth Novels'' reached number 36 in Norway, number 56 in Belgium, number 75 in the Netherlands and number 143 in France. It also peaked at number 18 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

in the United States, and at number seven on the ARIA Hitseekers chart in Australia. As of April 2014, the album had sold 106,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Youth Novels''. Musicians *

– vocals *

– piano ; synthesizer ; acoustic guitar ;

celeste Celeste may refer to: Geography * Mount Celeste, unofficial name of a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada * Celeste, Texas, a rural city in North Texas ** Celeste High School, public high school located in the city of Celeste, ...

;

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

; backing vocals ;

snare SNARE proteins – " SNAP REceptor" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts, more than 60 members in mammalian cells, and some numbers in plants. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to mediate vesicle fu ...

; electric bass ; percussion ; drums ;

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

; string arrangement ; keyboards,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

; foot stomp ;

rocksichord Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI) was a subsidiary of the Allen Organ Company, based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, active from 1966 to 1982. The company was formed to produce portable musical instruments, and manufactured several electronic pianos ...

Walter Sear Walter Edmond Sear (27 April 1930 – 29 April 2010) was an Americans, American recording engineer, musician, instrument importer and designer, inventor, composer and film producer. He was considered a pioneer in the use of the synthesizer and an ...

–

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

* Per "Ruskträsk" Johansson – saxophone ; flute * John Eriksson – percussion ; drums ; cymbal ;

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

Lars Skoglund Lars Skoglund (born March 27, 1974 in Bodø, Norway) is a Norwegian composer and musician. Biography Skoglund was fascinated by pop and rock music at a young. He started playing guitar and drums in different bands. He also became interested in ...

– drums ; percussion ;

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...

* Mapei – backing vocals *

Lissy Trullie Elizabeth McChesney, better known by the stage name Lissy Trullie, is an American singer-songwriter and former model. She released her debut EP, '' Self-Taught Learner'', in February 2009, and as of 2009, performed with a band named Lissy Trullie ...

– backing vocals * Johan "Zilverzurfarn" Zachrisson – acoustic guitar, foot stomp * Dylan Von Wagner – backing vocals *

Peter Morén Peter Andreas Morén (born 5 May 1976) is a Swedish musician. He is the guitarist and vocalist of the indie rock trio Peter Bjorn and John. He is also a founding member of the Stockholm-based artist collective INGRID. He was born and raised i ...

– backing vocals * Andreas Forsman – violin * Erik Arvinder – violin * Erik Holm – viola * Henrik Söderquist – cello * Markus Ollikainen – trumpet * Neil Lipuma – tambourine * The Suzan – backing vocals * Lasse Mårtén – percussion Technical * Björn Yttling – production, recording, mixing * Lasse Mårtén – co-production, recording, additional recordings, mixing * Janne Hansson – recording * Matt Azzarto – additional recordings * Bil Emmons – additional recordings * Tommy Andersson – engineering assistance * Tom Gloady – engineering assistance * Neil Lipuma – engineering assistance * Henrik Jonsson – mastering Artwork * Sandberg&Timonen – artwork * Marcus Palmqvist – photography

International edition

* Björn Yttling – electric bass, piano ; rocksichord, celeste, organ, percussion ; flute, trumpet * Lars Skoglund –

cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...

; drums * Per "Ruskträsk" Johansson – flute * John Eriksson – percussion

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2008 debut albums Albums produced by Björn Yttling Atlantic Records albums Lykke Li albums European Border Breakers Award-winning albums