EYEYE

After living with it for a while, you’ll come to appreciate ‘EYEYE’ as a record that breathes, sighs and will leave you lost in the same dazed revery that these tracks were born from.

Eyeye may be more of the same from Li, but as a distillation of her music to date, and a final confrontation with heartbreak, it’s flawless.

At just eight tracks long, EyEye never outstays its welcome, although its relentlessly downbeat nature may put some people off. While the absence of a big pop banger is a shame – Li is so good at them – her restless nature and willingness to experiment is to be admired.

The lack of momentum caused by the absence of a consistent beat serves, almost paradoxically, to envelop us in Eyeye’s often mesmerizing cinematic textures. ... But while most of Eyeye’s trappings as a chronicle of a breakup are successful, sometimes Li’s writing can too blatantly underline her concepts.

The eight-track collection finds its voice through an ever more personal lens, one that dials down the familiar ignitable fare in favour of intricate ambient spread. In doing so, variation on past cues and themes are offered, sonically pared down yet expansive in concept – an effort that adds new facets and angles to Lykke Li’s art.