LYKKE LI KICKS IT @ (LE) POISSON ROUGE

Lykke Li has remarked in a number of interviews that she doesn't want people to focus on the fact that she's Swedish -- she's more interested in making a statement as a woman in the music industry. But when your homeland is one of the raddest nations with the hippest most fashion-forward youth -- not to mention some of the richest offerings in contemporary indie rock and pop (Peter Bjorn and John, The Knife, Jens Lekman, Jose Gonzalez, El Perro Del Mar, Shout Out Louds -- and the list goes on and on), it makes me desperately wish I had more than a "little bit" of Swedish in me too.

But this is merely one of the myriad aspects that make this indie pop sensation truly rock harder than Amy Winehouse and her minions of impersonators. Though Li doesn't sound like an fifty-year-old black blues musician, this Olsen twin look-alike truly is a unique voice to be reckoned with. Li (full name Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson)'s got her own groove going on, with a gorgeous breathy accented voice that sends tingles down the spine. What's amazing is how this dewey-faced Swede can sound ten times better live in concert when she already sounds unreal on her debut self-released record, Youth Novels.

So when I got the chance to attend out Lykke's show on Thursday August 28th at New York's very recently opened (le) Poisson Rouge venue, I was simply jumping for joy. I had already been listening to Youth Novels on repeat all summer long and copping Li's high-knotted hairstyle and penchant for voluminous shirts coupled with body-conscious catsuits -- so this was my chance to experience what was undeniably one of the best concerts of 2008.

On a raised circular platform surrounded by jubilant fans, Lykke Li, her trusty megaphone and backing band held nothing back throughout the hour long set. She danced. danced. danced her quirky trademark dances all while singing, cooing and seductively murmuring her way through her short but amazingly sweet back-catalog, including everybody's favorites, "Little Bit," "I'm Good, I'm Gone" and "Breaking It Up" - but throwing in some fun covers as well, including Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and a rousing rendition of A Tribe Called Quest's "Can I Kick It?" - which received plenty riotous bouts of "Yes you can!" from the animated audience. It was an intimate affair between concert goers and a rising young Swedish sprite, and it was certainly a night to remember. I was simply blown away.

Youth Novels is out now on Atlantic Records in the U.S.

Visit Nicky Digital to view Li performing "Little Bit" or click below for her cover of "Can I Kick It?"