Miike Snow is the collective name of the band, not the front man or the other members on stage. The group started as a collaboration between two established Swedish producers Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg and American singer Song writer Andrew Wyatt.
Following the rest of the band, who are all dressed in black, no doubt for dramatic effect but at the same time effortlessly cool, front man Wyatt takes to his table of effects pedals and other dials and starts manipulating them to create and lead the moody bass line in for their first song, “Enter the Joker’s Lair”. It starts off slow giving you time see the six members on stage take their instruments and build the mood as crowd anticipation builds. As they join in with lifting, swirling synth lines and floating xylophone melodies it gives you the sense you are partying in a celestial under water world.
Throughout the set all band members are constantly in motion, tweaking settings and triggering explosive sounds from their illuminated centre console of dials, keys and pads which resemble a UFO ready to take off. This triggers all sorts of noise and flawlessly creates the same polished crisp sounds as they have on their records while maintaining a solid raw live sound. The visuals are engaging and at times becomes an audio-visual sensory overload.
The set was an eclectic mix of old and new hits from 2009’s self-titled release and this year’s follow up album Paddling Out. All songs feature live elements differentiating them from their recorded counter-parts: slowed tempos, extended build ups and improvised electric madness are all added in to the equation. “Silvia,” one of my personal favourite’s, features an extended psychedelic build up.
Miike Snow has the full attention of the crowd throughout the whole set, smashing through one hit after another with lesser known songs like “Black Tin Box” drawing all eyes and ears in with syncopated tribal drums beats.
The crowd is quite diverse: a couple that looked older than my parents are standing to my right, a few guys fresh from an executive board meeting on my left and I am surounded by the regular festival hipster folk. Although the band’s interaction with the audience is low, there is no lack of entertainment in the room with Wyatt constantly moving around instruments and dancing to reflect the emotion he feels in his lyrics. The drummer occasionally leaves his kit to get amongst the other on stage in songs like “Bavarian (say you will)”.
The band finish their set with the pop piano heavy “Devil’s Work”, but promptly come back out for an encore and end the night with their biggest hit “Animal”. The song’s bouncing hook is given a whole new bassy edge, and people drained the last of their energy to sing and dance along shaking the floor of the Metro before calling it a night.
Miike Snow definitely lived up to the hype surrounding them, and their live show demonstrated why they’ve gained such immediate popularity.