Andorra - Caribou (2007)

Caribou is the stage name of Canadian musician and mathematician, Dan Snaith. Originally known as Manitoba, Snaith’s first album Start Breaking My Heart was an electronic and ambient venture influenced by Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin. Snaith then moved to psychedelic and folk soundscapes in both his Up in Flames and The Milk of Human Kindness LPs, which lead to his style of music being labelled as ‘folktronica’. Over time, Snaith also became more confident in utilising his voice, which has become more prominent over each release. I believe Andorra is almost a departure from folktronica, as Snaith has produced more orchestrated conventional songs, while being highly reminiscent of 60’s sunshine pop and psychedelia.  

The album begins suddenly with ‘Melody Day’, a flurry of percussion, vibrant guitars and Snaith’s falsetto vocals. Although the song seems chaotic, it comes together through colourful pop style melodies, which may be a reference the song’s title. The chorus is uplifting, as Caribou triumphantly exclaims something indistinguishable that sounds like “beaches!” as psychedelic drums and guitars swirl around him. Following this exhilarating track is ‘Sandy’. It opens with rhythmic drums, a subtle baseline and flourishing sleigh bells and flutes. The verses are dreamy as Snaith’s high-pitched harmonies fluctuate and intertwine in a very similar way to The Beach Boys or The Zombies: “Now I’m divided like a flock that flies when it's sighted, and picture circles in the sky. You can believe me like all of the others who leave me and vivid shapes across the eye. The things around us and the shadows they left as they found us, are running fingers through your hair”. There is a change of tempo as the chorus becomes evocative of something from Sgt. Pepper’s with a marching-band style. This song is such a precise vision of the 60’s; it’s almost hard to believe it was made in 2007.

The third track ‘After Hours’ is a blissful six minute trip. Snaith’s voice is slightly more subdued. However, the layered harmonies are disorientating, the guitars are echoed and the drums are boisterous. This song reminds me of the kind of progressive drumming used on the Tango Mango album by Can. ‘She’s the One’ opens with back-up vocals, “doo-doos” which are constant throughout the song. This put me off the song initially. However, this track is one of the few songs that are concentrated on vocals and lyrics rather than instrumentation. Snaith croons this love-song, singing about being so infatuated with a girl that he can’t see how bad she is for him: “Then she's gone and my friends can come along and they tell me that I'm happier. One more fight, yeah, you tell me all the time have you lost all of my pride? But she's the one”. ‘Desiree’ is another vocally focused tune, which evolves into an orchestrated and symphonic baroque pop song. The chorus is an stirring climax of flutes, violins, bass and piano as Caribou harmonises. Then the record takes a psychedelic rock turn. ‘Eli’ begins with a fuzzed-out guitar riff and hypnotic drumming, as Snaith murmurs, “when she opens her eyes she says she feels better. Now she’s falling apart and it’s all in her mind”. As well as writing lyrics inspired by love, Caribou seems to be a fan of writing enigmatic lyrical content for his songs. In line with other songs on Andorra, the musical style changes from verse to chorus on ‘Eli’, moving from psychedelic rock to sunshine pop.

The seventh song is ‘Sundailing’. This is definitely my favorite track on Andorra. It creates a more ambient journey in comparison to other songs, with subdued layered guitar chords and a continuous 4/4 drum beat. Caribou’s murmurs and croons are manipulated with reverb, making it difficult fully understand the lyrics: “Of pictures and of voices, an arrow drawn in time that's pointing to me standing here with your words on my mind… And every night I dream of you while lying in my bed and ever since I was a boy keeps running through my head… And when we meet my mind is making promises of you and when you go, I know you know it breaks my heart in two”. Along with an emotive instrumental build-up of flutes and drums, the song conjures feelings of remembering and longing for someone. Honestly, listening to this song has caused me to choke-up at times. It’s just beautiful. I believe that the last two songs are the only folktronica tracks on the record. ‘Irene’ slowly fades in and out with woozy synths and electronic beats. The last song ‘Niobe’ begins with minimal dance vibes and glistening electronica, then progresses into an experimental swell of synths, dance-floor rhythms and percussion arrangements, with Caribou’s vocalisations scattered throughout. Altogether, Andorra feels like a celebration of life and a declaration of love, a blissful nostalgic 60’s throwback, including innovative experimentation. An amazing album.          

(III) - Crystal Castles (2012)

The album cover for the new Crystal Castles LP is a photograph taken by Samuel Aranda, depicting a woman cradling her son after he was exposed to tear-gas during a street demonstration in Sanaa, Yemen. Leading up to the release of the album, Crystal Castle’s vocalist Alice Glass, remarked, "I didn't think I could lose faith in humanity any more than I already had, but after witnessing some things, it feels like the world is a dystopia where victims don't get justice and corruption prevails.”  

Crystal Castles is a duo consisting of Ethan Kath who composes and produces the electronic tunes, and Alice Glass provides vocals and lyrics, both hailing from Toronto, Canada. I remember when I first heard about Crystal Castles; they were featured playing their first single ‘Alice Practice’ on an episode of the UK TV show, Skins. At first, I found the music too abrasive and disjointed paired with Alice Glass’ barking vocals. Nonetheless, their debut self-titled album was released in 2008. Then after hearing songs like 'Reckless' and 'Air War', I was converted to a Crystal Castles fan. Kath utilised novelty Gameboy 8-bit chip tunes and chopped up vocal samples over buoyant electronic beats on their first record. The duo’s second album, Crystal Castles (II), moved towards dance and noise electronica, with less Gameboy sounds and more diverse, moody and dense songs. This LP contained the band’s most popular single yet, ‘Baptism’, a club-ready tune with an extremely catchy distorted synth hook and pounding beat.

         

I was really excited when I learned that Crystal Castles were releasing a third LP. Apart from ‘Alice Practice’ and ‘Doe Deer’, I've enjoyed most other songs by the band. I was even more overwhelmed when I heard the first single and opening track ‘Plague’. It opens with atmospheric buzzy synths, while Alice sings the verse softly. The chorus is a menacing, dense wall of droning and pulsating electronica with a quarter note kick drum beat. Alice shouts, “I am the Plague” and her vocals are then distorted to match the danceable noise. After hearing this song, I knew I would love the whole record, considering the witch house influences, electronic laptop sorcery and its eerie aura. The lyrics in ‘Plague’ are in line with Alice Glass’ current perspective; “Infants in infantry, rewrite their history. Uproot their colony. You’re ripe for harvesting”. I believe she is referring to the civil wars in Africa where children are taken from parents by resistance troops are forced to kill. The next track, ‘Kerosene’, uses a hip-hop percussion structure, with menacing a background drone and high-pitched chopped up vocals. Alice’s voice is clearer than usual in this track as she sings “Light of God, dimming weak. Nothing’s wrong go back to sleep. Lend them comfort for sorrow. I can clean impurity. Wash away with Kerosene”… “I’ll protect you from all the things I’ve seen”. This is suggestive of government cover ups, while also echoing the cover photo of a mother protecting her children. ‘Wrath of God’ is fine example of how Crystal Castles can create songs that are simultaneously abrasive and irresistible. It is another pumping dark and noisy dance track with some 8-bit bleeps and an awesome build-up. Everything slows down when the song ‘Affection’ begins. Alice’s vocals are both tender and ethereal as she almost whispers, “Catch a moth hold it in my hold in my hand, crush it casually. Without past I can’t disappoint my ancestry. Forever can I sleep inside your menagerie.” I think it’s about realising how much power and responsibilities we have as humans. Followed by the shame we feel when we think about humanity’s continual misdeeds and destructiveness over time.

‘Pale Flesh’ feels ritualistic with a trip-hop influenced beat accompanied by squeaky, sinister synths and Alice’s manipulated vocals: “Adolescent fiancé, I’m just flesh to give away.” The sixth and seventh tracks are less appealing to me. ‘Sad Eyes’ is an industrial darkwave dance tune, where Alice sings, “you can’t disguise sad eyes”, possibly referring to women who’s culture require them to wear a burka, with only their eyes visible to the public. I find that this track doesn't draw me into the song as others do and the melody isn't very creative. ‘Insulin’ is a ferocious and smothering sonic attack on the ears. I think it serves as an experimental break in a mostly pop focused album. The next song ‘Transgender’ is a stand out track for me. It begins with twinkling bleeps, spectral vocalisations and achingly beautiful melodies, then transforms into a skittering dance tune which is simultaneously ethereal and dizzying. ‘Violent Youth’ is the only track reminiscent of anything from the band’s first album. With an high-energy and bouncy rhythm, the vocal distortions make this song particularly disorientating, but eventually it slows down. The second last song ‘Mercenary’ is an ominous electronic ballad with searing synths and hip-hop beats. (III) finishes with an gentle melancholic lullaby called ‘Child I Will Hurt You’. Crystal Castle’s third album is probably their most focused piece yet. I’m also impressed by political and philosophical ideas within the lyrics. Oppression, nihilism and sorrow never sounded so good.        

Chapter VIII - It's Been a While

So I haven't posted on here in a long time. I've decided it’s time to get back into it. The main reason for the lack of entries was that I was studying and didn't have the time or motivation. Well guess what, I finished my degree and I'm really excited to talk about music I love again. In other news, I went on a trip around Europe which was flippin' awesome. Here's some photos from the trip. Royal British Museum, ancient Olympian ruins in Elis, Greece, Ian Curtis's grave and somewhere in Germany.

In terms of this blog, I will be posting more album reviews. They won't always be new releases, just stuff I really like. My taste in music has evolved since my last entry. I've been mystified by new found genres including shoegaze, garage rock, witch house, dream pop, post-punk, chillwave and a plethora of other electronic music. I'm not sure if I should be writing less in the up-coming reviews. My idea was that in-depth analyses of albums could my niche in the blogosphere. However, I begin to wonder if people have the time or interest for that much reading in a post. We'll see how it goes. Here's a picture of my current favourite albums. I'll probably end up reviewing most of them. Sorry about the text size, you can open it in a new tab or save it and zoom in.