Whenever an artist whose last record was great releases their first thing since it’s an exciting, if nerve-wracking, prospect. Perfect example: Fleet Foxes make probably the best debut of the last decade then return from two years of silence to make something decidedly underwhelming.
Pressing play on “The Devil’s Work”, the first track from the forthcoming sophomore album from electro-pop geniuses Miike Snow, was terrifying for me. I worried that the band’s sound may have stagnated, or, conversely, that they’d get caught up in the self-conscious need to “innovate” that has dogged so many young bands (see: everything The Strokes ever made after, Is This It).
Gratifyingly, “The Devil’s Work” sounds like the perfect statement of intent for a new album. Less overtly “electro” than most of their earlier work, the song instead draws power from strings, horns, and an insistent, steady groove. Look for the new album Happy to You on March 27th. And check out “The Devil’s Work” below, it sounds sooooooo good.
Happy Music Sad Music 