 " The Wave " was written and produced by Miike Snow 's three members : Christian Karlsson , Pontus Winnberg and Andrew Wyatt . The song was recorded alongside the rest of their second studio album Happy to You ( 2012 ) during the second half of 2011 . The band had more " creative freedom " while making the album , compared to their 2009 self @-@ titled debut album . They felt they could " plan the process more " , which included inviting the Swedish Army drum corps to play military drums on several tracks , such as " The Wave " . Karlsson told Billboard that his favorite part of the song occurs during the second verse , in which all band members are hitting the drums simultaneously . " We hit anything we could hit at the same time ... and it sounded kind of cool " , he said . Nils <unk> is credited for playing the drums , while David <unk> , Jonathan <unk> and <unk> <unk> played the military drums . Swedish musician Gustav <unk> of band <unk> played the autoharp , and the band provided additional instruments , arrangement and programming . <unk> <unk> mixed the track at <unk> , Miike Snow 's own studio in Stockholm , Sweden . 
