Lykke Li: Eyeye (Album) – Review
Artist: Lykke Li
Title: EYEYE
Format: Album
Land of Origin: Sweden / USA
Label: Play It Again Sam [PIAS]
Release Date: 20. Mai 2022
Genre: Alternativ, Electronicica
8 Tracks • 33m 29s
At Apple Music and qobuz available in
24-Bit / 44.1 kHz – Hi-res – Stereo
For the German translation of
this review please >>> click here <<<
Intro…
On 20.05. 2022, the Swedish-born Lykke Li has released her new album EYEYE (pronounced EYE), a very private, intimate, audiovisual album. Lykke has already released 4 studio albums since 2008 and she always takes her time with each release. She may also be known to some due to her collaboration as vocalist on Röyksopp’s 2009 album “Junior” (“Miss It so Much” and “Were You Ever Wanted”).
How the album was created
EYEYE is Lykke’s most intimate and touching project to date and brings her back together with her longtime Swedish collaborator Björn Yttling, with whom she has collaborated for the first time since Lykke’s acclaimed 2014 album I NEVER LEARN. Recorded in her Los Angeles bedroom, the new album EYEYE is Lykke’s supremely unique attempt to project a lifetime of romantic obsessions and fantasies into a hyper-sensory audiovisual cosmos.
The album is accompanied by seven immensely impressive, at times deeply moving, even harrowing repetitive video loops: Together, the music and imagery reveal a larger narrative, a story about the eternally recurring cycles of love, addiction, relapse and obsession. The album’s title and running time are palindromic, i.e., read from the front as well as from the back, the meaning is the same.
EYEYE, however, is not just a return to Lykke’s old musical forms. Rather, it is Lykke’s final reckoning with the musical forms that have defined her career. It’s a breakup with a breakup album, and thus representing Lykke’s magnum opus musically. I’ve gathered you the videos for each track in a playlist.
About the EYEYE project
After four critically acclaimed studio albums, Lykke wanted to work for EYEYE with a different musical palette. She established a clearly defined scheme that controlled every aspect of the production. There were no click tracks, no headphones, and no digital instruments. Vocals were recorded with a hand-held $70 drum mic, often at the moment of each track’s composition, giving the lyrics the still-beating sound of fresh heartbreak whispered hauntingly in the listener’s ear.
The album was mixed to tape by Shawn Everett over several months in Los Angeles. The result is a shimmering 33-minute carousel ride through the emotional quadrant of Lykke Li’s hyperspace, with stripped-down production, shimmering analog synthesizers and the expressive pop hooks that longtime fans will recognize as the signature lines of this exceptional singer. “I wanted to give the album an atmosphere that was like listening to a voice memo under a macro dose of LSD,” Lykke says.
The visual part of EYEYE was released simultaneously with the album. Directed by Theo Lindquist and shot on 16-millimeter film by cinematographer Edu Grau (A Single Man, Passing), the short videos are presented as parts of a comprehensive story.
The male lead is Jeff Wilbusch (known from Oslo and Unorthodox.) “We wanted to capture the aesthetics and grandeur of a three-hour European Arthouse Movie while creating something compatible with the modern social platforms and their communications media,” says Lykke. “The intention is to convey the full impact of a movie in sixty seconds on a cell phone screen, where most of our emotional experiences are taking place today anyway.”
The videos are capturing the album’s core themes: Fantasy, Repetition, and the endless loops we get stuck in. The videos will be released on all platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
On the Bottom Line
With EYEYE, Lykke Li has given us something very special. The album, in conjunction with the visual parts, has almost a supernatural aura, with an incredible closeness to the soul and heart of the listener.
Lyyke’s voice is always extremely expressive, with an immensely high recognition value. Between the lines of all Lykke’s releases, a strangely beautiful magic penetrates our hearts. The density and closeness of THIS album of Lykke, the fragile, interspersed with suffering arrangements, the expressiveness and changing moods – all this makes the album something very special, which can be experienced very rarely within a decade.
Listen to the album and watch this impressive videos
Mein Testequipment:
Studio 1 (High End):
- 2 x System Audio SA Mantra 50 (front)
- 1x System Audio SA Mantra 10 AV (center)
- 2x System Audio SA Legend 5 (Rear)
- 1 x System Audio Saxo 10 (Subwoofer)
- 4 x Onkyo SKH-410 (B) (Dolby Atmos)
- Auralic Altair (Audio Streaming Client mit max. 32 Bit / 384 kHz)
- NVIDIA Shield Pro mit Plex, Kodi (max 192 kHz für Audio, Tidal (MQA Streaming Client)
- AppleTV 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Amazon Cube 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos (restricted), HDR, Dolby Vision
- Panasonic DP-UB9004 (4K UHD Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Oppo UDP-203 (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Yamaha CX-A5100 (Preamp) 4K, Dolby Atmos, Hi-res
- Yamaha MX -A5000 (Power Amp)
- Sony KD-55A1 (TV) 4K OLED, HDR, Dolby Vision