Miike Snow, famous for the track “Animal,” have probably been featured in every popular commercial and movie. Since their 2009 debut, Miike Snow has continued producing catchy, dance-themed music, including for their recent album, “iii.” Though this album is just as exciting as past albums, the band seems to have become massively creepy.
One of the first singles off of “iii,” “Genghis Khan,” starts with whistling and upbeat tempos that get you in the mood for the record. This energy is carried into the catchy chorus when the lead singer Andrew Wyatt repeats, “I get a little bit of Genghis Khan every time.”
In case you are unfamiliar with Genghis Khan, he is the founder of the Great Khan and modern day Mongolia. To secure his empire, he raped and looted people from Russia to Central Asia. In relation to this track, Miike Snow gets a little crazy like Genghis Khan to claim their love.
It is really obvious that someone in Miike Snow went through a bad breakup. Songs range from reminiscing about a love to exuding pain and anger for letting that love go.
“The Heart of Me” begins with echoing and synthesizers that set the stage for this rhythmically appealing track. The stories that the lyrics tell are often hidden behind the upbeat tempo of the song. Miike Snow reflects on the good times of the relationship and hints at the bitterness at the end of it: “I can’t believe we’re not anymore. I remember standing in a cathedral, Somewhere in Northern Europe, I think it was Paradiso. The space around my head was ringing.”
Miike Snow has always taken on soul music, and “Heart is Full” encapsulates soul from the 1970s and hip-hop from the 1990s in this dance track. In this song, Miike Snow samples from Marlena Shaw’s “Waiting for Charlie to Come Home.” They stretch out her vocals to form the chorus, and they match it with electronic beats. At many points in the song, Wyatt raps about the pain of a lost love, singing, “please don’t knock over my heart, cause my heart is full of you.”
Set to a beautiful tempo of trumpets and a classical quartet, “Longshot (7 nights)” surprisingly depicts Miike Snow as pissed-off and wanting to get back at a lover. Throughout the track, Wyatt sings in attempt to rationalize feelings towards a lost love, but fails to find any reason to support such decisions. The song serves as a warning for listeners to not fall in love with the wrong person. Whatever Miike Snow’s issues are, the music that supports the lyrics is absolutely breathtaking.
Miike Snow’s “iii” is literally one giant, deceiving dance party. At first, when you hear a song, you will think that it’s another dance track. However, when you listen deeply to the lyrics, you are kind of horrified by how vivid and brutally honest the album is. Though the album at times can be lyrically terrifying, Miike Snow never makes you forget that they make pop music.
