For anyone recently perusing the racks at Urban Outfitters, Miike Snow’s eponymous debut will sound familiar. Its first track, the catchy and upbeat “Animal,” has lately been playing to the indie kids shopping for ironic graphic tees and plaid shirts. Don’t let the opener fool you though, this album isn’t meant for the dance floor. The snazzy hooks, synthesizers, funky beats, and vintage sound play alongside lyrics filled with nostalgia, regret, and a constant loneliness.
Miike Snow has tricked us – not only with the first track but with the name. Miike isn’t one person, but a Swedish trio consisting of Chris Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, and Andrew Wyatt. You might know Karlsson and Winnberg as Bloodshy and Avant, producers to the pop stars: they’ve worked with Kylie Minogue, Madonna, and Britney Spears. Despite the depressing lyrics on their self-titled debut, Karlsson and Winnberg’s pop roots show throughout the album. Even when trying to bum you out, whether with break-up song “Silvia” or one about isolation in our modern day “Plastic Jungle,” Snow mix in a moving beat, a throwback to ‘70s funk and reggae dub, and get you going on a one-man groove.
Out of 11 tracks, “Animal” is by far the most danceable. Right from the beginning these three guys tell you what the next 45 minutes will be about: “I change shapes just to hide in this place/but I’m still, I’m still an animal/no body knows it but me/when I slip.” This classic feeling of man versus society, of self-isolation in a mechanized world, slips in and out of songs, intertwined with laments on the additional loneliness of heartbreak.
“Burial”'s lyrics are as flippantly dreary as you could expect , but pulls you in with a whimsical, child-like hook. Miike Snow’s hooks are genuinely amazing, layered and textured with keyboards and synthesized electronic noise. Yet their sound remains simple, effortless. Miike Snow’s talent shows in their use of computerized sounds and instruments; where any lesser band would go overboard and create an overwhelming, choked out sound, Miike Snow leave room in the music, making a complicated sound seem minimalist. Almost like a meticulously planned Ikea showroom- filled with furniture, but with an air of controlled sterility. The vocals throughout the album have a soft, gentle, and hurt quality to them, a singer burdened with a feeling of abandonment. The trio avoids monotony by changing it up every now and then with a gimmicky sound, like in “Black and Blue,” when the chorus vocals become high and girly, imitating Prince.
The album slows down in the middle, in tracks five and six, gaining energy in the howling beginning of “Cult Logic,” before amping it up in the sinister but fun track “Plastic Jungle.” Britney Spears fan should tune into this one – its where Karlsson/Winnberg rekindle their American pop sound that gave Spears her comeback. “In Search Of,” the following song, jumps back across the pond to a DJ-friendly Euro-club sound. The album ends on a melancholy note with “Faker,” which begins with a ‘70s/’80s spacey synth, and then channels Elliot Smith in both vocals and melody. It’s a deceiving infectious song.
Miike Snow fall squarely into the Northern European camp with fellow artists Bjork, Royksopp, and The Knife. They mix catchy music with an indie sound to create a sinister sounding electro-pop. The album conveys a hip sadness and joy, like a soundtrack meant for eating Froot Loops on a dreary Williamsburg afternoon. All in all, a great debut from three guys who already have an impressive record of hits underneath their collective belt.
Track List:
1.Animal (4:23)
2.Burial (4:21)
3.Silvia (6:26)
4.Song for No One (4:09)
5.Black & Blue (3:40)
6.Sans Soleil (4:27)
7.A Horse is not a Home (4:13)
8.Cult Logic (3:56)
9.Plastic Jungle (3:54)
10.In Search Of (5:16)
11.Faker (2:34)
