LYKKE LI - 6th and I Synagogue - 1/31/09

OK. So this may be the shittiest concert review ever if you're a fan of when the reviewer is sitting there with a set list, writing song by song. I don't do that often, but, when it comes to an artist of the level and talent of Lykke Li, you almost feel like a gigantic douchebag for not adequately expressing in a ultra professional manner how awesome she really is.

Lykke Li played the 6th and I Synagogue in downtown Washington, DC last night. The venue has existed for years, and, isn't, like the Unitarian Church I've pro wrestled in, no longer a functioning structure. It is, still, very very much a synagogue, and, for a wild dichotomy, they have musical artists, who sometimes, due to the nature of expression, don't exactly say things that jibe with the tenets of religion, perform from the pulpit, which to me and my lapsed Catholic sensibilities seems sacreligious, but, Wikipedia says that synagogues are not consecrated spaces, so, under that definition, I guess it's all gravy then.

I think all young women with deep, hearty, expressive voices should be required by law to perform in venues like this. The night prior, she performed at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia, another quasi religious and still very functional venue, that also has, yes, tremendous acoustics. Atlantic Records is revving up the machine behind Lykke Li, and for her voice and unique talents, this is the type of move that makes you think that maybe Ahmet Ertegun isn't deceased, but his voice is still channelling through the powers that be at that legendary label. Lykke Li performed on her first swing through DC at the Black Cat. It's a fine venue, but one that lends itself far better to guitar driven pop, rock and metal bands, than a genre bending folk hop, ultimately pop branded songstress. From note one at the Synagogue, Lykke Li sounded like a fucking superstar. Either she's 10,000 times more comfortable as a performer (which is saying something, all things considered), or she too was overwhelmed by the structure. On an altar, swathed in light, surrounded by candles, candelabras, lit menorahs and exqusitie stained glass, with high vaulted ceilings to not muffle her sound, she sounded like a little bit of Lulu mixed with a lot bit of mid 90s Madonna mixed with a heaping spoonful of impossibly cute yet ultra approachable b-girl. In other words, unlike anything we've ever seen before.

The momentum has clearly picked up behind her, as the blogosphere and print media have finally done something right since MIA, as we've acted in concert to gush about this girl to the point of stardom. There were long stretches of songs lst night where the audience sang, and Lykke Li shut up. I tend to think she was more amazed than anything that people knew all the words, and loved her so absolutely that they felt the desire to sing along. As a journalist, or even a faux journalist, on maybe even just a fanboy, you take those moments and just sigh a tremendous sense of pride. And then you laugh when her swaggertastic braggadocio takes over and she chides her crowd that "they now sound like they're singing the Lion King," and "doing it all wrong." Divalicious. Hysterical. And then she shows us how it's done. Whut!

Craziest of all was the rushing of the pulpit. Yes, as the first chord to "A Little Bit," widely anointed as her most radio and video accessible pop offering, hit, something akin to a mix of gospel revival meets Beatles on Ed Sullivan occurred as people just rushed the pulpit, wanting to get a closer look, a closer feel, a better experience of the button cute pop sensation.

As always, with Lykke Li, what makes her most exciting is her charmed, happy and blase attitude to all of this. Swedes as a people take a very relaxed attitude to the universe. They have this term, "lagom," which roughly translates to "just enough." You get the sense that if Lykke Li's career ended tomorrow, she'd be hurt, but okay, as she has this amalgam of what I am sure are incredible experiences to fall back upon. Sure, she always wants more, but, she seems perpetually amused in a positive way about all of the wild cheering and insanity that surrounds her performances. And that's beautiful.

The most exciting part of her show now is that she's expanding into other genres. She played a plethora of new material last night, much more dance inspired, seemingly a clarion call to the rapidly multiplying plethora of electro/Bmore/house/rave/complete and utter rubbish DJs to take notice, and blast her into other atmospheres of sound. It's a slight departure from her aural masterpieces produced by Peter, Bjorn and John's Bjorn Yttling, but, her voice can read the phone book, and I think I'd buy it. And, of course, she had to punctuate that 15 minutes of her set by playing Lil' Wayne's "A Milli," causing a hush, then a roar of approval from the crowd, like we were watching Alex Ovechkin take a game winning slapshot three blocks over. She amazingly rapped over it, ever present single single drum kit and cymbal caterwauling from being blasted by Lykke's thrashing in time.

Her set finished with her now infamous "Can I Kick It" cover, which is not as fu the second time, as David Copperfield can only make the Statue of Liberty disappear once before you just think of it as "just another trick," but, let me focus on just prior, when she turned her song "Tonight," into the most plaintive, then wailing ballad ever, almost in a way reassuring the crowd that yes, she can sing her tail off, and no, she isn't some pop bubblegum act (not that there's anything worng with that) like so many of the Swedish babes before her.

Opening act Wildbirds and Peacedrums are great. They're a power percussive and odd instrument playing extremely avant garde folk duo from Sweden who has a showcase forthcoming at SXSW that I think a lot of people that really and truly enjoy that type of music are going to love. Andreas Werliin and Mariam Wallentin, the husband and wife duo, excelled in winning over a crowd initially beyond frigid to their unique brand of folk pop, but, Mariam Wallentin's influence of Nina Simone is obvious, and Andreas Weilin bangs the skins to wake the dead.

But yeah. Lykke Li's the best up and coming pop act in all the universe right now.

Fact.

- KONG