Artist: Caribou
Album: Our Love
Label: Merge Records
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Track: “Can’t Do Without You”

Dan Snaith’s first offering from his upcoming release Our Love is a hypnotizing experiment in dynamics.

From the first second, a repetitive, muddled vocal sample that wouldn’t sound out of place on an XXYYXX record hogs the whispery sonic space, eventually giving way to Snaith’s own voice, soaked in reverb. Both vocal tracks riff on the same singular line: “I can’t do without you,” but to whom Snaith and his electronic counterpart sing is left a mystery. Both vocal tracks are eventually swallowed almost completely in an ornate synth and drum freakout that seems poised on the brink of explosion before it abruptly dies out. This building, otherworldly section seems ready and able to slay festival audiences during Caribou’s ongoing world tour. Though he has a tendency to switch aesthetics with each album, this track finds a middle ground between Caribou’s many styles and suggests an upbeat tonality to this upcoming project, giving the listener everything they have come to expect from Caribou: a unique blend of sunny, psychedelic synths and insistent live drums that simply shimmers with happiness. Judging by the face-melting groove achieved at the three-minute mark, why change what isn’t broken?

By: Dennis Moon

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