Suggested Listening: Caribou – Swim
April 21, 2010
Caribou – Swim
If there is a constant to be found in the historical arc of American art, it is that themes of escapism always become prevalent in times of economic hardship. The most notable example of this is of course the classic film The Wizard of Oz which was dizzyingly successful upon its 1939 release while the US was still reeling from The Great Depression. The tension and uncertainty in the world just prior to World War 2 gave rise to comic book heroes such as Superman and to a pulp fiction movement in literature. The Vietnam War and the energy crises of the 1960’s and 70’s led to a rise in the prominence of Psychedelic Rock (which was often coupled with the use of Psychedelic Drugs…). When OPEC quadrupled the price of oil in 1975, a young filmmaker named George Lucas starting filming Star Wars. In the wake of the bursting of the Nasdaq bubble and the sobering reality of 9/11, The Lord of the Rings became one of the most successful movie franchises of all time. As individuals, and moreover as consumers, we crave reprieve from the banality or the futility of the everyday; we crave a different reality, we crave escape.
As a genre of music, dance music- or House Music, is inherently escapist. By combining ambient and rhythmic elements, it often achieves a uniquely transporting quality— with an effectiveness few other art forms ever manage to obtain. When the album Since I Left You by The Avalanches was released in 2001 (again, amidst recession) it combined countless musical samples in such a context-changing way that it altered the musical landscape entirely. As an album, it possesses fluidity unlike anything that preceded it and like few that have been released since. With his fifth album under the Caribou moniker, musician Daniel Snaith challenges that escapist ideal and redefines fluidity in music-making in the stunning new release Swim.
Snaith describes the creative approach to Swim as an attempt to create “music that’s liquid in the way it flows back and forth… the sounds slosh around in pitch, timbre, pan… dance music that sounds like it’s made out of water rather than metallic sounds.” The end result is a fascinating album that is simultaneously familiar and chaotic, as synthesized and often mechanical elements combine into surprisingly organic musical forms. Throughout Snaith’s musical career, this type of innovation and reinvention has become something of a hallmark but the most remarkable thing about his approach on this album is the way it totally sets itself apart from everything else in its genre.
Lyrically Swim makes an interesting statement as its principle narrative is that of a married couple on the verge of separation. The juxtaposition of such weighty subject matter against such a rhythmic musical backdrop lends a weird tension to Swim; and yet seems strangely fitting, begging the question: aren’t breakups and divorces the ultimate manifestation of escapist yearnings? The album opener ‘Odessa’ serves an expository purpose as the characters of Snaith’s House Music-opera are introduced- “She’s tired of crying, and sick of his lies / she’s suffered him for far too many years of her life.” Snaith’s escapism finds itself hitting quite close to home as hope and reprieve are stood alongside despair and loss.
‘Sun,’ the second track on Swim, further exemplifies Snaith’s aim to create music that “sounds like it’s made out of water.” Sonically, it is an engineering marvel and one of the strongest tracks on the album. Layers of sound pirouette around each other over a steadfast percussion track while odd sound bites of horns and of laughter lend the song a sense of warmth. It is like musical sculpture as Snaith’s compositions and engineering combine to form something utterly unique. The care and deliberation with which Snaith approaches his songcraft is immediately evident and reaffirmed throughout the album.
The track ‘Kaili’ further fleshes out Snaith’s failed relationship narrative with characteristically sharp songwriting: “And he keeps himself held back for both their peace of minds, but he’s no less quick than her to begrudge her what he finds.” The vocals carry the melody while the rhythms around it are carefully modulated and heavily decayed. These are starkly contrasted against a crystal clear alto-saxophone flair near the songs end. It is very reminiscent of Roger Waters’ saxophone work on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon; and fittingly so given Caribou’s psychedelic back catalog.
Serving as interludes within the album, the largely-instrumental tracks ‘Bowls,’ ‘Hannibal,’ and ‘Lalibela’ show Snaith’s versatility as a musician and his unmatched mastery of poly-rhythmic song construction. These are songs that are immediately accessible but belie an intense complexity. Attempting to unweave the layers of song construction has shown Swim to be consistently rewarding after countless listens. The amount of thought that must have gone into such intricate music creation is staggering but not terribly surprising considering Snaith’s background as a PhD. in Mathematics, having completed his thesis in modular mathematical forms and Number Theory. The closing minutes of ‘Lalibela’ carefully lay bare the sad flipside of Snaith’s escapist narrative as his hushed vocal laments “He won’t say it but he still needs her… when he gets home the house feels empty from the bedroom to the ground.”
The album closes with the climactic epilogue of ‘Jamelia’ featuring the soaring vocal of Luke Lalonde from the band Born Ruffians. A quiet and close-in vocal lies low in a mix of soft synth-loops before exploding into a fury of staccato synthesized strings, endlessly poly-rhythmic percussion and choral washes; in trademark Caribou fashion it is incredibly dramatic and effective.
Immediately listenable while dense and complex, Swim is every bit as career defining as Dan Snaith’s highly lauded 2007 album, Andorra. It is an album that further explores the possibilities of digital music creation and does so in a way that still puts songwriting at its forefront. It is an album that becomes at once self-aware and transcendant and as such is one of the most consistently rewarding albums of the year.
