Miike Snow – “My Trigger” (Singles Going Steady)

Adriane Pontecorvo: There must be a vault somewhere in Stockholm that holds all the secrets to pop music, because nobody puts together a catchy song quite like the Swedes do. Miike Snow’s latest single attests to this; “My Trigger” captivates and begs for a dozen successive listens. Every element is so polished that it’s hard to pick the key to this song, but for my money, nothing keeps the song both moving forward and adds some weight to it like those keys. Upbeat, skillful, and above all, entertaining, both aurally and visually. This is the perfect pop song. [10/10]

Andrew Paschal: It’s hard to say whether Miike Snow even want to make music with any sonic depth. Much of their catalog, “My Trigger” included, remains stubbornly surface-level, largely attributable to Andrew Wyatt’s nagging, impersonal faux-soul falsetto and their persistently glossy production. While some musical artists, from David Bowie to SOPHIE, evoke the substance of plastic as a means of proving a point about consumerism or artificiality, Miike Snow lack such self-awareness. A trace of irony might actually help “My Trigger” become more than it is, and when irony becomes the best solution to a band’s problems you know they’re in trouble. While catchy, the song comes across as a factory-produced collection of hooks arbitrarily pasted together with no overarching concept or emotional nuance to guide it. Miike Snow would do well to revisit what made “Silvia”, easily their best song to date in my opinion, so good: the suggestion of an actual human drama existing at its core. [4/10]

Landon MacDonald: Miike Snow’s subtly electropop, mostly indie pop single has a distinct top 40 vibe, but also hits a nice James Mercer Broken Bells falsetto. The thick piano holds its ground strongly while the waves of reverb flow over its notes. It straddles the line between pop radio and indie pop very well, but that is implying that there even is a line anymore. [7/10]

Chris Ingalls: Another band that has eluded me for years, Sweden’s Miike Snow are a lovely surprise and the new album (and single) incorporates lovely effects and production that seem somewhat experimental but still have a lovely pop sheen. The falsetto vocals really give the song a “classic” feel and almost sound like the Bee Gees breaking into a Danger Mouse recording session. Catchy, fun, and unique. [8/10]

Michael Pementel: There is this one part where it sounds like a squirrel is either having a seizure, or, said squirrel is gurgling on mouth wash, and that’s the part I enjoyed the most vocally. That isn’t to say the vocals are bad, they actually flow well with the song, but in particular, that specific moment adds to the vibrant goofiness of the music video and the energy of the instrumentals. The instrumental has a bop to it and these brief moments of keys stepping down which are pretty fun and sure to put a smile on your face, but I could have done without the vocals.The music video for this is hilarious with all these government officials dancing, and is choreographed so well. [6/10]

Paul Carr: The song gets the blood pumping from the outset with a bombastic opening featuring a Beatlesque piano line. The song bounds along with enough pep and vigour for the entire Olympic team. It also contains the most unsubtle innuendo since Robert Plant asked to squeeze his lemon. Added together this is a sunny day stomper that needs to be played loud. [8/10]

William Sutton: Innuendo is rife throughout “My Trigger”. One of the less experimental releases the Swedish production duo have made it is nonetheless a fun slice of light hearted pop. The electronically manipulated vocals can be slightly grating at times but this is still a good track that is complemented by a tongue in cheek video and some balletic performances by the US and Russian heads of state. [6/10]

Scott Zuppardo: Hell of a jam. The duo is back in full-effect complete with new tricks and endless creativity. The chorus is ripe for the picking, lyrics in a funky falsetto, and a Jenga game of sound craft by way of samplers and such. The video a satirical Hair meets Grease take on the Cold War and our insatiable obsession worldwide with blowing shit up, both literally and figuratively. [8/10]

SCORE: 7.13