Caribou 'Our Love' - Album Review

A clever man who sometimes seems at pains to conceal his brains beneath a bushel, maths PhD turned electronica composer Dan Snaith has led a peripatetic career. Back when he traded as Manitoba, his gauzy beats and shoe-gazy palettes seemed to seek comfort in familiarity – you were reminded of My Bloody Valentine and Chapter House – with the interesting innovation of manic bleeps pinging in the background.
In 2007, he had an unlikely stab at mainstream appeal with the lovely, pop-shaped Andorra, though his lurch towards writing actual songs seemed to alarm existing fans rather than win new ones. So it was a surprise that, when his breakthrough did arrive, it was via the relatively non-commercial Swim, a grand woozy kiss-off of an LP that didn’t much care what you thought of it but which we loved all the more because of its insouciance.
Four years on he turns sharply left, towards Justin Timberlake-style soul pop and a patina of cool beats and treated falsettos. There’s lots of singing (the title track finds Snaith ruminating, rather ominously, about the nature of love); elsewhere he flirts with the laptop soul of How To Dress Well and Sohn (‘Your Love Will Set You Free’) and free-floating minimalism (the Moby-esque ‘Dive and ‘Second Chance’). The results are by turns mysterious and lovely. With Our Love, Snaith cements his position as one of the best electro producers around.

OUT October 4.