Miike Snow: Beyond Toxic

"We never really tried to be producers or songwriters. In the beginning we were really just hustling for money, selling beats so we could pay to use a studio. It fell into our lap." Miike Snow's Christian Karlsson is acutely aware that his background as one half of renowned songwriting and production duo Bloodshy and Avant attracts its fair share of attention. They did, after all, conjure up Britney's 2004 global phenomenon Toxic and have seen their work performed by the likes of Madonna, Kylie, and, em, Jennifer Lopez. Karlsson does seem justifiably proud of Toxic, though admits its success came as something of a surprise: "It was a breath of fresh air for the charts but we didn't write it thinking we would give it away. It came out of a studio session where we were just experimenting with different sounds, and we certainly didn't have Britney in mind, it wasn't like her stuff at all; but now that's Britney's sound."

Electro-pop ensemble Miike Snow comprise of Karlsson, his Bloodshy and Avant cohort Pontus Winnberg (both Swedish) and American Andrew Wyatt (also of New York-based band Fires of Rome). Karlsson is quick to make a distinction between life as a producer and being in a band. "I think there's a huge difference between writing songs for other people and doing our own music. If I wrote my own music for Madonna she wouldn't use it, so you have to find a happy medium." Freed from creative compromise, Karlsson acknowledges the pressures of autonomy are nerve-wracking but ultimately more rewarding; he is particularly enthused about the prospect of playing live. "We have a rule that we're not going to use any pre-recorded stuff or use computers on stage because we want to do all the programming and electronic stuff live. We don't have any arrangements to stick to either so sometimes we stretch songs out really long, rave style. It's more fun for us and more fun for the audience. We want them to feel they're paying for something original, know that the songs can sound slightly different every time."

Karlsson is not trying to distance himself from his past work, suggesting that it was a "fun ride", but it wasn't easy to make a burst for freedom. "People came to us to try and get something crazy and original within the pop genre and I think we did pretty well with that," he says. "We've been trying for so long to get away and do our own music but there have always been people calling. It took us a while to be able to shut the door and say 'I'm not going to take any more phone calls'."

And if Miike Snow doesn't quite work out, will Bloodshy and Avant make a reappearance? "I don't know. I'm glad we did it, but I wasn't always writing what I wanted to! Sometimes I've said 'This shit sucks, but here it is!' If they want to buy it, they buy it. It is an awesome job to make music in any circumstance, it's just better to make your own."