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Andorra

by

Caribou

 
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Andorra
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Avg: 4.0 (625 ratings)

One-man band Dan Snaith makes the old sound new again.

  • We Say...

    Review by Andy Battaglia

    Caribou’s casually majestic Andorra plays like an electronic-music simulation of all the great old psychedelic records that you happen upon when you're first starting to happen upon great old psychedelic rock. “Melody Day” may kick off with a tender charge that sounds like Elliott Smith — in both its melody and its vocals — but very quickly, Caribou mastermind Dan Snaith blasts back to the ’60s. Touchstones abound, from canonical favorites the Zombies and the Left Banke to lesser lights like the United States of America and White Noise. This is far from a literal simulation, though, thanks to Snaith's busy production hand and wily ear for texture. The swirl and bash of songs like “Sandy” and “She’s the One” traffic in the kind of strings and backward-tape effects that could have played in San Francisco back in the day, but everything (especially drums that roll with subtle yet monstrous force) is busier than what an actual band could play.

    Caribou tends to get lumped in with other electronic “laptop” acts who process quasi-rock sounds, but Andorra makes a strong case for completely throwing away such distinctions: they're helping to create an era in which the old can sound truly new.

  • They Say...

    Review by John Bush, All Music Guide

    As Dan Snaith became an accomplished producer with his Manitoba and Caribou albums of the 2000s, the breathtaking vitality of his early work gave way to music that may have been more accomplished, but was never as interesting or as fun to listen to. Andorra is just the kind of break with the past that he needed after 2005's relatively lackluster The Milk of Human Kindness. His first album on Merge, it's less a collection of innovative sounds and productions (like The Milk of Human Kindness) and more an album of songs, united by his motivations and desires. These tracks are first and foremost songs -- and not just because Snaith is singing a bit more. There's less of a "programmed" sound, although the productions are dense with tape cut-ups, layered harmonies, and various percussion lines threaded through the mix. And the sheer strength of the material is immediately apparent when the opener, "Melody Day," reveals itself as the best moment in Snaith's career. First of all, it sounds like it was recorded in 1966 by a British band that just missed the cut for the Nuggets, Vol. 2 box set, recalling '60s touchstones like the Move or Soft Machine. Not strictly a throwback, though, its ineffably crisp and kaleidoscopic production style ranks with the best of Dungen or Fiery Furnaces or Animal Collective (which is high praise indeed). Andorra may be a bedroom record, but it certainly doesn't sound like a bedroom record; it has the energy and intensity of group participation, and that makes it Snaith's best yet.

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