On the penultimate evening of the three day festival in New Jersey, All Points West; Swedish singer Lykke Li faced a momentous battle. Not only did the petite Nordic beauty face the horrendous torrential rain, but it had seemingly turned into a battle of the Europeans. On the main stage, she faced Echo and the Bunny Men, who have sustained an incredible longevity not demonstrated by many artists these days. In fact, they were formed around the same time that Lykke Li was born. On the second stage, were Scottish post rock legends, Mogwai. Both bands have years of touring, and numerous renowned albums under their belts.

Despite these multiple adversaries , Lykke pulled a huge crowd, proving testament to just how much her one album, 2008s “Youth Novels”, has made an impact on the indie music scene.

With a voice beyond her twenty three years, Lykke’s on stage performance is awas h with boundless energy and a passion that sometime verges on terrifying, coming from an elfin blonde pop singer. She manages to sustain an atmosphere that is consistently dream-like and enchanting for her whole set, while bounding through songs such as “Dance, dance, dance”, as if tortured, yet driven by this music she produces. Her child like vocal shines in the ethereal, “little bit” allowing a glimpse into the much more fragile,  delicate, perhaps even tormented side to her  songwriter self; but she ups the tempo for “the sumptuous “I’m good, I’m gone”, providing the charismatic set a majority of this crowd were hoping, and waiting for.

What is incredible about Lykke’s performance, is the way she switches from pop music with aggressively dark undertones, to a delicate folk like beat that Joni Mitchell herself would be proud of. Often drawing comparisons to her Swedish contemporaries, Robyn and Annie, Lykke Li’s bohemian pop demonstrates an intelligence that her peers simply cannot compare to.

Lykke’s gorgeously theatrical performance is one to be seen and admired.  She manages to have every male and female in the crowd hanging on each sultry word she mouths, proving just why this Swedish darling is here to stay.