Word: caribou
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With “Lalibela” and “Jamelia,” Caribou gives up completely and returns to his more airy roots, and the songs are better for it. The former, in particular, uses swelling, melancholic synthesizers and delicately whispered vocals to haunting effect. While “Lalibela” recalls the best of Caribou’s previous releases, that song and “Jamelia” are strange fits on an album dominated by pulsating drum-and-bass beats. Still, they’re a welcome break from the indecisiveness...
...wavering synth line straight out of a 1980s disco and a drumbeat more propulsive than any found on “Andorra” introduce “Odessa,” and give listeners a very good hint at what Caribou is trying to accomplish with “Swim.” After years of balancing dream pop, noise, and spaced-out electronica, this is Caribou’s dance record...
...rather, it tries to be. “Odessa” is perhaps the best thing Caribou has ever released—a throbbing, dubstep-inflected track whose breathy vocals float over a bed of fluid bass and punchy, off-kilter percussion. And the two tracks that follow it, “Sun” and “Kaili,” form a brilliant triple act with “Odessa,” venturing daringly into various subgenres of dance but with a firm safety line linking them to Caribou’s dreamy home territory. Soon...
...combination of genres sounds promising. With the three opening tracks of “Swim,” Caribou shows he can do dance. And he’s proven with remarkable consistency over a decade of music-making that he can do ambient electronica. But somehow, when those two aspects merge in songs like “Bowls” and “Leave House,” they lose much of what makes them compelling in the process. Less than the sum of its parts, the record’s middle section decelerates and de-energizes...
...tracks and Caribou’s continuing mastery of his familiar fields, but failing to commit to a cohesive vision of either. The album’s confusion might induce a little nostalgia for the sweeping sounds of “Andorra.” But more than anything, Caribou should be applauded for his courage in releasing a record that strays far from the formula of his previous releases. The only disappointment is that he didn’t go far enough...