Honestly, folks, I don’t know how I missed this one. Miike Snow’s ‘Burial‘ was one of my favorite single tracks I got into during this past summer of mass-music-listening which sparked the format-change of the blog. Apparently, ‘Burial’ as well as my other favorite track by the group, ‘Black & Blue’, are both on the same album released this past May! Boy do I feel stupid. Without further ado, I must commence with my praise for Miike Snow’s self-titled debut.
From the same men who brought you ‘Toxic’ by Brittany Spears, as well as a litany of other chart-topping dance hits comes their effort made in collaboration with an American songwriter which has produced some most finely crafted indie-synth I’ve heard in a long time. A friend of mine commented that it’s a just “a little to slow to dance to,” which I must admit is true. That may be why accelerated remixes of multiple Miike Snow tracks have been tearing up the music alley of the blogosphere for the past few months, but it is in no way an actual detracting factor of the music.
Certainly, the drive and arching vocals of ‘Burial’ should make it clear why I’m so enamored with this group’s music, as its everything I’m looking for in a song: A mellow opening is slowly built, through the judicious use of a piano for a slow-build, finally arriving at the chorus. The bridge-like thing starting at 1:40 is maybe my favorite part of the song, getting you to the point where a power-doubled repetition of the chorus seems like just what the song needs, and delivers! ‘Black & Blue’ is similarly enjoyable, but far more up-beat.
Lower-intensity songs like ‘Sylvia’ and ‘Sans Soleil” showcase how much finesse these men command over their machinery, but maybe my favorite “surprise” track was ‘A Horse is Not a Home‘. The lyrics on this one, “With a hole in the heart / I was forced to ride / in morning traffic”, gave me a weird sortof post-apocalyptic vision, but it seems to be more of the emotional-isolation-is-tragic kindof thing. Either way, this song has the most fast-paced beats of any of the tracks, and I think it stands out as on of the album’s best (check out the little drum flourish at 2:44).