Sunday night I saw three Swedish women at Bimbo’s: El Perro del Mar (myspace), Lykke Li (myspace), and Anna Ternheim (myspace).

It had been quite a while since I had been to a show at Bimbo’s. I remember the attendant in the bathroom and the mass amount of velvet–it seemed like too classy a club to host indie rock–but I’d forgotten how small it was. I mean, it’s no Hemlock Tavern but the floor area is pretty intimate.

Anna Ternheim was on when I got there. She did a set that was mostly earnest folkish guitar songs with a few on piano and a few accompanied by her “small and convenient” (as she put it) band: her ipod. The accompanied songs had some heavy beats and less folksy orchestrations. The crowd was pretty receptive–she even has some fans there just for her–but while I found it pleasant enough I didn’t find it compelling.

Lykke Li was next up. I’d heard a couple of her songs and heard some raves about her following her SxSW performances. I like what I heard enough to be intrigued but I wasn’t sold.

But let me make this clear: whatever you’ve heard doesn’t really figure into the equation unless you’ve seen her live. I hate to be so dismissive but it’s like people offering opinions on the Polyphonic Spree without having seen them live. Each act’s recordings shouldn’t be judged separately from their live performance, I feel.

Lykke Li performed like a woman possessed. She danced and rocked out, sang tenderly and almost shouted. The crowd was in a frenzy.

When the set ended, the audience clapped…a lot. “Why are they clapping so much? She’s an opener–there won’t be an encore.” And then she came back out. She admitted she didn’t have much material left before launching into a cover of “Can I Kick It” and then into her own “Tonight” (which is available free at her site).

Lullabyes has a show of hers from the year’s SxSW. It’s worth giving a listen to.

El Perro del Mar was the headliner and who I ostensibly came to see, but after Lykke I had questions about whether I should even stick around.

I did eventually decide to stay. I liked her self-titled debut album, but hadn’t really kept up with her since. I didn’t know much off of the new album.

She started with my favorite of hers, “Party” and she did nice versions of some of my other favorites like “It’s All Good” and “I Can’t Talk About It”. But in the end, it wasn’t enough.

El Perro del Mar showed up and played well, but Lykke Li showed her up. After such an ecstatic set, most any other performance wouldn’t shine like it would in another context.

I met Scott of Anyone’s Guess at the show. Nice guy. A reminder that you can win passes to Outside Lands (and other schwag) at his site.

See more photos after the jump or view my full album online.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 10:33 pm Posted by adrian in SF bay area, blogs, live review, photos. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.