Reviews

Caribou

Andorra

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Review Date: 2007-09-07

A lot of people don't realize that Dan Snaith (who has a math Ph.D.?!) of Caribou/Manitoba grew up in Dundas, Ontario, along with former Domino records label-mates Junior Boys. Maybe because of Snaith's former moniker, people took that as a clue to his origin, even though his first full length, 2001's Stop Breaking My Heart, featured a track named after his real hometown.

I first came across Snaith's music when he was still using the name Manitoba. Back in 2003 my roommate had a copy of Up In Flames that we would listen to a lot. His girlfriend bade me to pick up a copy of it on vinyl for said friend's birthday while I was down on Queen st. Having the vinyl led to more frequent listens and from that I grew a great fondness for Snaith's music. Two years later when Milk Of Human Kindness appeared, under the guise of Snaith's new lsd-inspired (apparently) name, Caribou, I rekindled that fondness again.

Now I feel that same increasingly-familiar feeling three years later as Andorra has come into my life.

Is it just me, or does it sound like Elliott Smith's vocals are haunting this disc? (Especially on the track 'Desiree'). I mean it always kind of sounded like him, but these tracks sound more genuine than New Moon! Regardless, these ethereal harmonies blend well with the pulsating woodwind-bells-keys-drums-etc formula that has come to be expected from Caribou.

Every time I hear one of the tracks, 'Eli', I think the guitar is going to suddenly shift into Aerosmith's 'Sweet Emotion'. Further into the song the more soaring, dare I say, psychedelic, guitar lines sound like something out of Revolver-era Beatles.

'Melody Day' couldn't be a better track to kick off the album. It is one of the most energetic and positive-sounding songs on the album. It's classic Caribou with a soaring chorus, symbol-heavy drumming, and awesome little bits thrown into the mix. It even boasts some very Sufjan Stevens-style flute parts. 'Sandy', the second track, is similar -- especially regarding the Sufjan-ey flutes.

All-in-all, it doesn't seem like Snaith is treading in any new territory on this album. That's cool and all, I mean, on my first listen to Andorra I already felt comfortable with it and that isn't easily said with new albums. But since Snaith has already shown his prowess in his somewhat trademark form of laptop-psychedellia, it would be really sweet to hear something totally out of the blue, something that I might not necessarily like right off the bat. Those can usually prove to be the most rewarding in the long run.

Score: 7.5

- Michael Bulko