New music
Over the last two decades, Dan Snaith – known to the masses as Caribou – has treated his work as a revolving door of influences, a dancefloor maverick who flits between indie electronica, woozy psychedelia, disco-tinted anthems and pinches of experimentation. Woven together by instantly memorable, emotional songwriting, the artist’s catalogue stretches across band-orientated performances that tap into the club experience, building a genuine, generation-spanning crowd along the way. In this current phase, the artist leans into polished, saccharine party bangers, kicking out the chin-strokers with a tasteful, pop sensibility.
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When CLASH gets to Stoke Newington’s The Waiting Room for his surprise London residency, there’s already a queue snaking around the corner. It’s intimate – by his standards – and we’re welcomed by cheery punters who’ve struck gold with the city’s hottest ticket of the evening.
Indeed, tonight is a reflection of Snaith’s trajectory, transforming the 120-cap venue with an inarguable main-stage presence. Having recently sold out Camden’s Roundhouse, the current space proposes a new set of challenges for the multi-hyphenate, now at an arms-length to his following. Making his way to the front, Snaith takes his spot as a four-piece band and studies his surroundings, triggering the steady, 80s nostalgia of ‘Volume’. Reactive and versatile, the outfit switch between rhythms and hardware, constructing their performance with an incremental precision.
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Turning towards the celebratory groove of ‘Climbing’, the group seamlessly introduce unreleased material to the crowd, injecting life and movement with the delivery of snappy, straight-to-the-point hooks that hark back to 2020’s introspective offering, ‘Suddenly’. In turn, the setlist is able to place Caribou’s separate bodies of work side by side, taking a moment to re-visit the darker, percussive edge of his fifth studio album, ‘Swims’. Asserting the record’s fortified longevity, the reception towards ‘Odessa’ or ‘Bowls’ is truly admirable, easing the band into a more fluid and playful approach to their instruments.
As they venture forward, the band dissolve each track into a new energy, steering towards the sunlit synth euphoria of ‘Ravi’, a complimentary partner to the gentle, bitter-sweet notes of this year’s ‘Come Find Me’ and ‘Only You’. At the heart of the performance is ‘Sun’, a radiant highlight that sees the band expertly build and release tension, spinning a hand-in-the-air moment into an industrial crescendo.
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The latter half of the setlist operates between the mainstream-slanting sonics of ‘Honey’, discovering fresh moments of unity between a broader spectrum of ravers. In this case, the speedy, pitched-up ‘Broke My Heart’ proves its purpose, as does the impromtu drop of ‘Hackney Parrot’, or the rambunctious, womping basslines of the album’s title track.
Drawing to a close with the defining ‘Can’t Do Without You’, Dan Snaith unveils his latest work with an urgency to connect with those around him. In his abilities to distil the raw elements of dance music whilst upholding the indulgent magnetism of a pop hit, Caribou is driven by the possibilities of his craft, and the crowd applaud him for it. Oh, and if that doesn’t do the trick, the blown-up face mask handed to fans upon entry certainly will.
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Caribou will release new album ‘Honey’ on October 4th.
Words: Ana Lamond
Photography: Fabrice Bourgelle
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