sun 03/11/2024

Album: Caribou - Honey | reviews, news & interviews

Album: Caribou - Honey

Album: Caribou - Honey

Almost a quarter century in, the psychedelic indie-dance individualist still setting off fireworks

'An object lesson in retaining unique personality while making straight-up bangers'

Dan Snaith’s career has been a joyous thing to watch. Almost a quarter of a century the Canadian started out as Manitoba (soon renamed to Caribou) making a giddy mixture of dreamy ‘60s psychedelic pop, glitchy electronica and then cutting-edge dance music.

Since then, much like his friend and contemporary Kieran “Four Tet” Hebden – latterly joined on their journey by Sam “Floating Points” Shepherd – he’s refined and tightened his sound, reaching bigger and bigger crowds, while impressively retaining the same fundamental character and inspirations. 

This is his 11th full album – eighth as Caribou/Manitoba, plus there have been three under his more stripped back dance guise Daphni – and it fizzes with delights. It certainly bears comparison to Floating Points’s recent Cascade LP as both are full of modular synth patterns purpose tooled to provide grandiose rushes for arena-sized crowds. However where FP has stretched these out often over eight, nine minutes, Snaith is all about pop thrills. There are only three tracks over four minutes here, and many are considerably shorter, and they all go in immediately with hook upon hook. 

There’s a lot that recalls classic 00s French electro-rave – many pieces sound like Justice at their least rockist, and the miniature “August 20:24” is a delirious nod to the fizzy filter madness of Daft Punk at their Discovery best. But there’s also plenty of the boom and shuffle of UK garage – which Snaith was almost unique among experimentalists in supporting early on and has always incorporated – and most of all, that sweet indie / psyche pop sense of song structure, sublimated into the dance energy admittedly but constantly present nonetheless. In lesser hands the firework like constant technicolour stimulation could be exhausting, but as it is, this is an object lesson in retaining unique personality while making straight-up bangers. 

@joemuggs

Listen to "Honey"

That sweet indie / psyche pop sense of song structure is sublimated into the dance energy admittedly but constantly present nonetheless

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Share this article

Add comment

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters