Miike Snow - Miike Snow

Stepping blinking into the spotlight come Scandinavian über-producers Bloodshy and Avant (with singing friend Andrew Wyatt) fresh from covering themselves in Top 40 glory with Britney, Kylie and Madge. This album screams (in a whispered, shy kind of way) that commercialised, produced-to-the-hilt chart fare is not what they're really all about. Instead understated piano 'n' synth pop is where it's at: simultaneously mournful yet somehow danceable. It should be taken for granted that the production is superb; most tracks shimmer with layers of synths, basslines, piano riffs all coexisting harmoniously, doing what they should do. Tracks like Burial, Animal and Black & Blue display keen pop sensibility, and downtempo pieces such as Faker and Sans Soleil tick all boxes under the heading 'melancholy'. The decision to disown their prior personas and bombastic commercialism is admirable, but it seems to have come at the expense of exuberance and genuine creativity. Perfectly fine, just a tad half-melted in parts. [Wilbur Kane]