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Review Summary: Caribou's abstraction is at its peak of accessibility, so go ahead, dive in. Caribou, or Dan Snaith, has essentially built his career off innovating relatively modern genres - house, various forms of electronic, and disco to be more categorical and precise - and transforming them into prolix, psychedelic jams. His newest release, Swim, follows this same path, incorporating all three aforementioned genres in order to capture his latest take on experimental and relaxing music. Snaith’s latest record is abstract, but never does it approach the irrational, inaccessible style he used to flaunt. He’s learned how to balance pop-sensibilities with the high-art innovation, but in a way that floors his peers, and even some of his older works (mainly Andorra). And both his fans and his detractors should love it.
Swim seems to drift and ebb in the way that some of his more choppy releases do not, focusing on the development of one idea into his more eccentric offerings. Granted, this is not to say that Swim treads formulaic waters. Even a cursory listen could tell you that. Atop his more dance-influenced beats lay more transethnic takes on both acoustic and electronic sounds, oftentimes drug-addled, but never completely outlandish. Still, Caribou’s music dives into both progressive and unexpected sounds. Album closer and highlight, "Jamelia" features minimal and dissonant piano notes as well as screeching strings. Similarly, the repetitive electronics (note: dance beats have not left Snaith’s work one bit) seem to abruptly climax into psychedelic-pop fare. But Snaith’s vocals prove to be as big a part, as well as an equally diverse staple to Swim’s sound.
Luckily enough, Snaith’s vocals project a signature fragility that makes Swim all the more self-destructive (and of course trippy). On "Kaili," his vocals combine with scant accents to make a track which seems to be hanging by a thread, willing to fall apart with a single glitch. Similarly, his nonchalant style on "Odessa" is nostalgic, bringing you back to the days where disco had expired, but still had an influence on new-wave, which was a mere idea rather than a genre. Said single is also bass-heavy, utilizing both a Trilogy-esque beat and world-conscious pan flute. But neither of these components shrouds Caribou’s pop-sensibilities. It would be rather difficult to find anyone who’d dismiss "Odessa" or "Leaves House;" and in that spirit, Swim is an album that seems too irresisitible to dislike. Caribou's abstraction is at its peak of accessibility, so go ahead, dine in.
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Yeah, so I'm lazy.
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Even a cursory listen could tell you that
I feel like you've used that before in a review.
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TheSpirit, I asked you for a synonym for pretentious... I'm dry.
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Is that the only reason why you neg'd? Or is this some other ghost neg I'm unaware of?
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Nevermind.
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That wasn't me
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Caribou are terrific swimmers.
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Will whoever's negging me make up their mind about whether or not to neg me?
And anyways, Emim, Caribou is a terrific swimmer.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
You say that he takes a relatively modern genre such as electronic and turns it into a lush electronic soundscape, you should probably change that.
Also, "electronic" is pretty broad
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has essentially built his career off innovating relatively modern genres - house, electronic, and disco to be more categorical and precise - and transforming them into lush electronic soundscapes.
eh idk this isn't really true
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
There are a lot of redundancies in the way you word things. Other than that it's a pretty decent review. Also: what joshuatree said.
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kool review im gonna see these guys in a week or so w/ toro y moi
chillwave rules
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There are a lot of redundancies in the way you word things. Other than that it's a pretty decent review. Also: what joshuatree said.
May you point some examples out? I mean I'll go in and fix the ones I can see, but over the year you've seen more of my mistakes than I have ever been able to.
Summary should maybe be "dive in" and not "dine in"?
Yeah, I'm light on puns anyways.
You say that he takes a relatively modern genre such as electronic and turns it into a lush electronic soundscape, you should probably change that.
Gotcha.
P.S. THEBHOY (is that one of those so-called redundancies?)
Also, "electronic" is pretty broad
Yeah, I recognize that, but I really hate terms like "chillwave" and "glo-fi" (except triptronic, which is one of those stupid terms which I like to claim I coined), because they're not necessarily genres, as much as they're pitchfork-isms.
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eh idk this isn't really true
I see some sort of extension of lots o' lectro genres, and it comes off as rather expansive (even though it's minimalist, you never get that stars of the lid-ish vibe, now do we?)
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However, I did change some things around, so, continue to critique away.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Yeah, I recognize that, but I really hate terms like "chillwave" and "glo-fi" (except triptronic, which is one of those stupid terms which I like to claim I coined), because they're not necessarily genres, as much as they're pitchfork-isms.
I get what you mean, and i'm not looking for some silly new term to sum this guy up. I just saw house slapped right next to electronic, and for me electronic is an umbrella term
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Perhaps "other forms of electronic" would be better?
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Because yeah, I get what you're saying (again), Deviant.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Its entirely up to you if/what you change it to, just my thoughts
Pos'd, btw
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I see some sort of extension of lots o' lectro genres, and it comes off as rather expansive (even though it's minimalist, you never get that stars of the lid-ish vibe, now do we?)
for this album, sure, but he hasn't "built his career" on it also who said anything about stars of the lid
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