Music

[Electronic]

Album review: Caribou’s ‘Our Love’

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Three stars

Caribou Our Love

Maybe it was having a daughter, or his embrace of dancefloor reverie during his Daphni side-project detour, or the response to Caribou’s 2010 album Swim, which somehow sold nearly 200,000 copies.

Whatever it was, Dan Snaith wanted to craft a big ol’ hug of a record minus the serotonin floods or hippie tropes—which he did with Our Love, the title spelling out his more extroverted and earnest projection.

He sets this tone immediately with the album’s best song, “Can’t Do Without You,” which merges Disclosure-esque garage revivalism and Burial-like dub breaks with the sort of big-beat psychedelia associated with The Chemical Brothers. Those principal styles remain through most of Our Love, emphasized thanks to Snaith’s pared-down, generally reserved and even pop-oriented compositions. While this eliminates much of Swim’s sense of quirk and discovery—as well as the robust rhythms now only heard in Caribou’s live show—repeat spins endear themselves to listeners, offering more affection than affect.

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