CARIBOU - Swim

The term polymath is something that we tend to use to describe the dead, past masters whose deft skills in a number of disciplines rendered them above the fray of mere mortals: Da Vinci; Al-Razi; Benjamin Franklin. Perhaps it's because we're so much more comfortable canonizing those whose lives are done, especially with a term that rings with such intellectual regality. Even after his death, Dan Snaith (a.k.a. Caribou), will likely never be called a polymath. But as both a master mathematician and musician, he's definitely anything but ordinary. And as someone who utilizes IDM traditions and computer composition techniques to engage, not shun, pop music, he is a true trailblazer as well.

His previous record, 2007's Andorra, was a high watermark for Snaith. Its Zombies-inspired sunshiny psych pop was his most direct foray into actual songs yet. Leaving his beatscape, mash-up sound sketches behind, it opened its arms wide to embrace not only a larger audience, but the 2008 Polaris Prize as well. Swim is equally as trippy as its predecessor, but it is consumed by a distinct darkness. This is the nighttime to Andorra's day, where fear and regret replace love, nightclub techno replaces AM-pop, and slippery texture replaces crisp definition. Snaith as been widely quoted as wishing to make "liquid dance music" this time out, and in this respect, Swim is a masterpiece. The record shifts its visual colours like a melting kaleidoscope (see the excellent "Sun" for a perfect example of this)—even for someone as pan-happy and beat-shifty as Caribou, it's new territory. It also sees him slink slightly away from the 'songs' of Andorra, a move that will no doubt disappoint some. But that doesn't stop a track like opener "Odessa"—with a sample hook that sounds like a Muppet mating call from Fraggle Rock—or the gently-pulsing "Leave House" from making immediate impressions. In short, Caribou has earned the right to have your trust, and that trust remains in good hands. Meticulous, tuneful, surprising, and always finding a deep groove, Swim is yet another brilliant work by a true master.