Spectreview: Caribou – Suddenly

Caribou’s Suddenly may be the electronic act’s greatest work yet in terms of pure accessibility.

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Dan Snaith’s electronic works under Caribou are simple pleasures packaged in experimental wrapping, and over the last fifteen years he’s worked on delivering new angles on that single concept. His 2010 breakthrough Swim introduced the artist as a auteur able to reconcile outré sonics with club-based grandeur, while 2014’s Our Love worked quiet wonders by distilling the pull of true romance into pure and patient beats. Snaith’s track record may be supreme, but Suddenly may be his greatest work yet in terms of pure accessibility. The music is more explicitly pop-forward than ever before without losing any of the little quirky decisions that make Snaith such a singular electronic artist.

His vocal sampling is one of the main attractions here; every voice loop here, from the bursts of vocal fry on “New Jade” to the sugary hooks on “Ravi” and barn-burning centerpiece “Never Come Back,” are utterly ear-catching without getting stale. Snaith’s voice is also more prominent throughout the record, adding both a cohesiveness and a distinctly personal touch. There are still disorienting moments that live up to the Caribou name, like the queasy pitch-bending on “Sunny’s Time” and the spacey comedown on the coda of “Lime” but mostly it’s fascinating to see Snaith infuse this collection with moments that are beautiful for beauty’s sake. That might make the album feel a little less substantive in places, like the minute-long interlude of “Filtered Grand Piano” and the emotive but somewhat vacuous guitar tapping on “Like I Loved You,” but overall Snaith does an excellent job of introducing a new level of accessibility without sacrificing his signature stamp on the genre. It’s the easiest Caribou record to listen to yet, and considering the bar he’s set for himself that’s high praise indeed. Jump right in, the water’s fine.

Recommended for chill pool parties.