Miike Snow drops an avalanche of heart-heavy dance tracks on Chicago

September 25, 2009, at the Empty Bottle

By Selena Fragassi
Published: September 28th, 2009 | 9:00pm

There was a moment at this year’s Lollapalooza festival, in the sweltering heat and under the blistering hot August sun, when people actually had chills. It was during the high-noon set of a relative unknown Swedish by American newcomer called Miike Snow as the band, devoid of any character actually named Mike, debuted their haunting electro-piano ballad, “Silvia,” to a muddy pit of enamored witnesses. And the verdict was a solid hit.

The reaction to this song, and five other stunning numbers in an abbreviated set, was much the same at the Empty Bottle when the band returned to Chicago for a more intimate, sold-out showcase. Except that this time, as the stage grew inexplicably smaller, the crowd grew exponentially larger as a prime example of the overwhelming response to the band’s self-titled first album (Downtown) and hard-hitting single, “Animal.”

As the band walked one by one on stage, decked out in their trademark plaster cast masks and black bomber jackets, the audience held out jackalope toys (the unofficial emblem of the band as featured on the album cover art) and chanted for a group that in an inexplicably short time, has grown out of the small size of club stages. Inexplicable except when you consider the unflinching talent and avant garde sound that mixes together some of the most relevant music styles in analog and digital history— although some have described the band as a-ha meets Animal Collective, some might harken it more to Michael Jackson inviting Peter Gabriel out for dancing. In Berlin. In 1992.

Gruff singer Andrew Wyatt’s swoonful vocals were visionary and original on songs like “Black & Blue” and “Burial,” dripping with undertones of Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos but with the balls to expose more emotional vulnerability. And all the while, the supporting cast was able to maintain the dance party in the corner largely operated by the master duo of Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg who have worked for many a pop star under the moniker Bloodshy & Avant.

The symmetry of all involved, including a touring drummer, keyboardist, and electro accessory, was impeccable in timing and dynamics — each sonic scientist at their own station in an explosive laboratory.

Sure, the dub tracks could have ended a bit sharper and sooner instead of lapsing into dead, synthetic air. Sure, the set could have been much longer … but in that hungry craving for more was a deep anticipation for what the band would do next. What masks they would wear next, what fictitious animal they’d don as their mascot, who they’d collaborate with more (please, Lykke Li!), and what highly contagious songs they would infect their pop-immune audience to. If a concert has any value, it’s one that has meaning and Miike Snow left us with lots to think about as they exited the stage just as they had come — one by one.

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Miike Snow MySpace page

Downtown Records