Miike Snow - Happy to You

It honestly doesn't feel like it was over 3 years ago that the likes of Animal and Black & Blue were enduring botherers of my playlists. In the time spent between debut and sophomore album, the Swedish electropop outfit have seen a fantastic collaboration with Mark Ronson and Boy George on Somebody to Love Me, co-written Bruno Mars' Grenade and Britney Spears' Trip to Your Heart, and, as Bloodshy & Avant, enjoyed a host of well-received remixes and EPs.

On home turf, however, they've yet to crossover into mainstream success. Critically, too, they've only ever been lukewarm at best, being dismissed by the likes of NME and Pitchfork on the ground of... well I don't know. Not recording the album in a forest, maybe.


The overall sound of Happy to You, as its title may belie, is a twee and chirpy selection of sugary electropop. Opener 'Enter the Jokers Lair' entwines almost birdsong melodies with a screeching synth loop for a pretty unstable warmup. By 'The Wave' however their standard piano comes into the fray. Heavy but slow drums give it an understated effect, and Andrew Wyatt's vocals fall slightly into the background, but it's a perfect drivetime song. Single 'Devil's Work' then echoes the likes of Faithless with an incredibly strong piano hook, with marching drums and brass thrown for indulgence's sake.

A more urban sound appears on 'Vase', a drums-and-claps-led tune that hesitates before it can really get going. The background synths are pleasant but unfulfilling, and it just feels unfinished. However when the band venture out in their indie shoes on 'God Help This Divorce', where a lot of cute and summery sounds build a kind of Goldfrapp/Cults vibe. Whistles, pianos and sugary synths also appear on 'Bavarian #1 (Say You Will)' but a gritty detour around the 1:55 mark gives it a fresh injection of energy. They can also write an effective disco song, as 'Pretender' demonstrates. The piano tune effectively complements Wyatt's voice here for a moving (both emotionally and sonically) production.

Your own personal tolerance for sugar-pop will ultimately affect how you gauge tracks like 'Archipelago', though, which storms along a slightly predictable direction with Mika-like piano interludes. However, the instrumentation in the verses redeem those quibbles. Fellow patriot Lykke Li then guests on 'Black Tin Box', a suitably darker-sounding instrumentation for Sweden's current reigning queen of alternative pop. The track is certainly interesting and leads down a whole range of distracting paths, but sounds completely out of place with the rest of the album. Not to say it's bad. 'Paddling Out' though rapidly crosses back into the territory of 'Pretender' and 'Devil's Work' for a triumphant disco sound, with arguably the record's strongest chorus. 'Garden' too possesses a potent rhythm to make you want to dance, but wastes it on a twee pop track. And sadly the record limps to the finish line with a very repetitive and uninteresting 'No Starry World'.


Despite minor grievances though, their follow-up record manages the feat of being a stronger record than their debut. The abundance of disco tunes, as well as the occasional surprise and a childlike innocence about the record make it virtually impossible to hate, but whether or not you'll love it depends entirely on how much of an electropop fan you are. Those who swear by the stuff: this is very much a must-have.

Rating: 7.5/10
Highlights: Paddling Out, God Help This Divorce, Bavarian #1 (Say You Will), The Wave, Devil's Work
Avoid: No Starry World

Artwork Watch: The latest in a long line of "multiple choice" artworks... the last one being the Kaiser Chiefs... and the one before that... god knows... but yeah, this is all very "exciting".