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.
