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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Melodious days, 4 Aug 2007
It's been quite some time since we've heard from Caribou (the artist formerly known as Manitoba, AKA Dan Snaith). But before his fourth full-length album "Andorra" is released, fans should give the "Melody Day" single a listen, for a taste of what is coming up -- sparkling, experimental pop music.
It opens with the title track -- a shimmering, sparkling pop tune that is just catchy enough to have a beat, but wrapped in a loose melody of twining melodies, clattering and twittering flutes. It's an absolutely enchanting little song, and seems to reflect colourful psychedelica with a subdued air.
Then he taps Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) to remix the same song, which ironically makes it even subtler and prettier. The loosely woven instrumentation gets stripped off to reveal a gentle acoustic melody. And in addition to Snaith's high voice, we get a string of harmonized vocals from Adem, One Little Plane, and Luke Lalonde. The result sounds like a folk choir.
Finally there's "Zoe," a sparkling, soaring cacophony that sounds like the Polyphonic Spree as a marching band -- lots of electro squiggling, colourful instrumentation, and rippling strings, all over perpetually "ba ba dum ba" vocals buried somewhere in the mix.
"Melody Day" basically does what it's supposed to do -- whets the appetite of the listener for more such music, and leaves you with a feeling that what's coming up is going to be good. The two songs (and one remix) are beautiful pieces of work, both intricate and very fun.
And Caribou does an excellent job spinning the instrumentation -- guitar that can be swirling, fragmented or spare, rattly drums, waves and spurts of electronic sparkliness, a twittering flute like birdsong, clashing cymbals, and ripples of strings that pop up occasionally. I think I hear a tambourine in the title track as well.
Snaith also uses his voice almost like another instrument -- it's high pitched yet pleasant, and he usually gets a little lost in the sea of overflowing instrumentation. The only exception is the remix, where his voice gets seamlessly joined in by a bunch of others, which makes it sound more distant and smooth.
The "Melody Day" single reveals the sound for the forthcoming "Andorra," and whets the appetite for more colourful, intricate indiepop. Personally, I can't wait for the rest.
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~ Caribou
~ Fleet Foxes
~ PJ Harvey
~ Burial
~ Tunng
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