It’s no secret that Caribou’s Dan Snaith is a well-seasoned genre jumper. In his decade-plus career he’s tackled everything from glitchy IDM to shoegaze to krautrock to psychedelic pop meaning it’s no biggie that the Canadian producer has once again flipped his script for his latest offering Our Love.
While not as shocking as previous Caribou metamorphoses Our Love is a decidedly different album than 2010’s Swim. Most noticeably it’s more of a purely electronic record with Snaith embracing trends like bass-dappling post-dubstepisms future-funk synth play and blurred-out R&B. The latter is perhaps highlighted most on Our Love as the record is smoother slicker and more minimal than any previous Caribou efforts. Helping bring to mind the likes of James Blake FKA twigs and the Weeknd Snaith repeatedly puts on his own love-torn croon and even enlists Hamilton’s Jessy Lanza for the cooing ballad “Second Chance.”
Like most Caribou records Our Love is very much a product of the now effectively becoming a snapshot of current trends making the rounds through the electronic music world. How this will all sound a few years from now is anyone’s guess but in 2014 Our Love stands as a musical high mark in a year already full of them.
