Caribou
Our Love
[Domino Records]
There’s some worth in listening to Caribou’s follow-up to the epochal Swim from track two onwards sometimes, such is the wake of the sound-of-summer lead single Can’t Do Without You. Essentially just one perfectly executed filter sweep and mantra to complete devotion, the pull to just continually listen to it is strong. But over repeated ventures beyond its orbit, Our Love reveals itself as one of those albums that picks you off track by track: Jessie Ware’s turn on the emotive Second Chance, swiftly followed by the fade-in/fade-out dream sequence of Julia Brightly are the next big signposts, until you realise, all of a sudden you’re at the end of it again, where Your Love Will Set You Free sets you free to wander back to the start of Our Love.
While it was initially assumed that works under the name Daphni would hereon provide the basis for more distinctly club-friendly work and Caribou lean back towards to “band” structure, that differentiation seems irrelevant here, the real schism less distinct. Our Love is submerged, filtered, less immediate that Jiaolong’s more outré hookiness, but still tingles with choice vocal samples that hint at the London clubs which have inspired Snaith’s music so much. There are other Snaith trademarks – the flute break, the snapped spring delay on drum hits, that “collapsing” string section sound – peppered throughout that give this record a kind of timbral continuity with Swim, but our Our Love doesn’t feel like it’s competitive with its older brother, just hugely proud of it.
Like this, try these:
Daphni – Jiaolong;
John Talabot – ƒIN;
Arthur Russell – Calling Out Of Context
Words: Ian Lamont
