Video: Lykke Li [ft. Robyn, Shout Out Louds, Concretes, Laakso]: "I'm Good, I'm Gone" (acoustic)
A number of Swedish pop all-stars are on hand for a new video by Stockholm's Lykke Li, whose "Little Bit" single had a few bloggers' hearts aflutter last year. Co-directed by Shout Out Louds bassist Ted Malmros-- the Grammi-winning director of that Peter Bjorn & John clip-- and Christian Haag, this video for Li's "I'm Good, I'm Gone" gets some help from Robyn, Shout Out Louds' Adam Olenius and Bebban Stenborg, the Concretes' Daniel Värjö, and Lars Skoglund of another Swedish band, Laakso. Li performs a stripped-down version of the song live in studio, beginning by playing a snippet of something on a handheld tape recorder before launching into some Waitsian boho chanting through a megaphone. It's painful seeing Robyn so close to the microphone but not being able to hear her over Li, who has a considerably weaker, yelpier voice than the former teen-pop star. Still, the accordion-backed kiss-off chorus is memorable enough, and there's a spare, foreboding piano bit on the verses. And if it's Robyn you want to hear, she starts a string of U.S. dates Tuesday night.
[original track from Youth Novels; out now on LL Recordings]