Artist Dan Snaith’s Our
Love release under the moniker Caribou, is another electronic/pop notable
release of 2014. Being a metal monger before any other genre, I try to give a
couple of listens to other major records to at least get a grasp of what is
notable and that could make a top list of the end of the year.
This electro-pop-indie-rock mix of contemporary music but
also very melancholic in a way that it isn’t that fun fun happy pop one would
expect from an electro-pop album. There’s a sense of atmosphere and melody that
can relate a bit to M83 without the epicness of the motion picture scale that
is in Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming!. Our Love plays on pop fields and is a
bit more commercial but still a well composed record.
With All I Ever Need,
Snaith revisits pop and impose his vision. While with Our Love (the song), this is electronic that takes all the stage.
However, songs are hard to split into genres and it is the blend of all of
Snaith’s explorations that makes the record hold together quite well.
HIs delivery as a singer is a bit off and seems distant but
also correct with the fact that the album sounds a lot digital and his robotic
tone may or may not get the public. At first listen it makes it an homogenic
record except on Second Chance which
features Jessy Lanza on one of the
best songs of the album. The music goes places you would not expect from the
vocals and Lanza’s presence is refreshing and helps to balance the sad tome of
Snaith’s voice and his vision of love.
Snaith composes songs about love and the different phases of
love in a relationship. He seems to have lived a lot of events in his love life
with his wife of thirteen years and his child born in 2011.
Our Love is a
record that may not connect with the listener at the first listen. But it
slowly grows on you and the order of the songs makes a nice structure that let
an evolution that is considerate. Amongst the plenty of records in 2014,
especially in pop music, Caribou’s Our
Love elevates itself with its nice blend of electronic/pop/indie. An
intimate record of grandeur.
8.0
