It's one of those albums that engulfs the listener. Slap on the headphones and get lost in the layers of meticulously arranged sonics. Propulsive beats, swirling strings, strummed guitars, flutes, horns, stacked vocal harmonies, spacey electronic effects: Caribou's new album, Andorra, offers a wall of sound that harks back to late-1960s psychedelia while still sounding fresh and innovative. It's the kind of disc that should appeal to fans of, say, Animal Collective and Brian Wilson.
When Caribou takes the stage at Crowbar in Ybor City Tuesday night, the quartet will perform in front of a screen projecting trippy visuals to complement the complex sounds. Among the musicians will be band mastermind Dan Snaith, who'll spend about half his time on the drums.
"The music was recorded at home on computer," he says. "But in concert we're an in-your-face, face-melting [laughs] rock band."
Snaith created Andorra on his own, in solitude. Whereas early works in his career relied heavily on samples and skewed more toward soundscapes than actual songs, Andorra finds the electronic luminary operating in singer/songwriter mode. Well, sorta.
Snaith's wispy but expressive voice is everywhere, singing over richly textured melodies — especially the opening track "Melody Day," which plays like a lost gem from the Summer of Love. An accomplished producer/drummer, Snaith also plays all the other instruments heard on the album: piano guitar, flute, horns — everything except the lush orchestral parts.
"Obviously, Brian Wilson is a genius songwriter," Snaith says when asked about his inspiration for the record. "Also The Zombies, that really baroque pop with the interesting string parts and lots of different instruments.
"More than focusing on production with this record, which is still important," he continues, "I was learning how to write song compositions. In the past, my music was based on loops and a drone-y kind of sound. This is more a pop-song format, songs following an arc the whole way through."
Snaith is on the phone shortly after his current North American tour kicked off in Toronto, the closest major city to his hometown of Dundas, Ontario.
"Toronto is home territory; I grew up an hour outside," he says. "But I was totally disconnected. I lived out on farmland. There was no going to shows; they were too far away.
"I was very much into playing music by myself and in crappy bands. It was more just through playing music that I got excited about it. In high school I got into sample-based music because it was something I could do on my own."
Snaith's peers listened to prog-rock bands like Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Pink Floyd. They're bands that make him "shudder" now, but initially got Snaith "excited." He credits a hip friend for turning him onto to ambient/techno acts like Aphex Twin. That's the one that inspired the 29-year-old to pursue a career in music.
"It was music I could make without spending millions in the studio," he says. "That was my entry point."
Snaith established himself as a top electronic artist in the early 2000s under the stage name Manitoba. But in 2004, he changed his moniker to Caribou after Dictators frontman Handsome Dick Manitoba reportedly threatened to sue for trademark infringement. Released Aug. 21, Andorra is the fourth and most critically acclaimed album he has made as Caribou. It's also his first to chart, reaching No. 26 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums tally and No. 5 on Top Heatseekers.
But Snaith didn't set out to make a commercially viable pop album. It was more a natural progression, a byproduct of his maturation as an instrumentalist and singer.
"It was something that gradually happened," Snaith says of Andorra. "When I started to record, I wasn't sure — it was a blank canvas. But it became pretty clear early on which direction it was taking. It was really exciting. There are so many pop songs packed with emotion, melodies that are really strong. Clearly, it was not something I had ever done, but I had to give it a try, making everything as dense as possible."
Snaith admits that in the past he lacked confidence as a singer, but over the years he has become more assured. He's also learned how to make his voice work for him and how to record it properly.
"Yeah, I think that's what happened," he says. "I've always been aware that I was not a good singer, but I've learned to get what I want in the studio out of my voice.
"I know my limitations," he adds. "Touring so much, though, singing everyday has really helped. As with any instrument, I'm getting better and more comfortable the more I do it. When I was younger, I was very much focused on learning the piano. … I didn't realize until later, and I know this is a ridiculously trite thing to say, but that the voice is a totally unique and wonderful instrument."
Prior to taking Andorra on the road, Snaith and three bandmates rehearsed for a month. Listening to the record, it would seem hard to duplicate it in a live setting — unless Snaith was touring with about a dozen backing musicians.
"It actually works really quite easily," he says. "In the beginning, we got together and looked at the songs and asked questions like: 'Do we have enough people to cover all these parts?'
"We rehearsed every day and broke the songs down and then put them back together again to see what works well. We still have the ability to trigger samples for really important horn or string parts, but we try to play everything [live] as much as possible."
This article appears in Oct 10-16, 2007.