Caribou

Caribou serves as the central outlet for Canadian electronic musician Dan Snaith, whose output spans serene slow-tempo landscapes, ethereal pop textures, psychedelic explorations, British club rhythms, and additional directions. In the early 2000s he first issued his vibrant, sample-driven pieces under the Manitoba alias, yet a legal dispute prompted a 2004 rebranding to Caribou. Under the fresh title he reissued substantial portions of his earlier Manitoba catalog while refining a signature approach built on inviting, buoyant electronics paired with hazy live-instrument fragments. Over subsequent years the project shifted in both recorded form—evident in the pastoral 2007 release Andorra, the rhythm-focused house set Swim from 2010, and the tender, reflective Suddenly of 2020—and through expanded concert lineups. The most strictly electronic dance material typically appears via the Daphni pseudonym or on the 2024 full-length Honey.

Manitoba emerged through several early-2000s EPs before delivering two albums: the glitch-infused yet earthy Start Breaking My Heart in 2001 and the widely praised, shoegaze-tinged Up in Flames of 2003. In 2004 Snaith relinquished the Manitoba designation after Dictators vocalist Handsome Dick Manitoba pursued trademark action, even though fifteen years had elapsed since any prior release bearing that name. The project became Caribou, the two preceding albums appeared again under the updated title, and the first fresh Caribou LP, the Krautrock-leaning The Milk of Human Kindness, surfaced on Domino in 2005.

Snaith shifted to Merge for the lush, British-psych-tinged Andorra, which claimed Canada’s 2008 Polaris Music Prize, followed by the more club-centric Swim in 2010. Immediately after Swim came the plainly titled Swim Remixes and the live document Caribou Vibration Ensemble Featuring Marshall Allen, both issued that same year. The live recording captured Snaith leading a fifteen-piece group that included four drummers across 2009 performances, highlighting the divide between his polished studio constructions and the dense, occasionally chaotic stage interpretations. Although the Caribou Vibration Ensemble release represented an uncommonly large configuration, the contributors John Schmersal, Ryan Smith, and Brad Weber settled into regular roles within Caribou’s standard touring lineup.

The sixth studio album, Our Love, appeared in 2014 and leaned into direct electronic pulses beneath submerged production qualities. In the years that followed Snaith concentrated more on his dance-oriented Daphni alias, yet in 2019 he confirmed that Caribou’s seventh studio album would arrive in February 2020. Suddenly was introduced by the three singles “Home,” “You and I,” and “Never Come Back,” each traversing multiple genres and abrupt stylistic turns. The Suddenly Remixes collection followed the next year alongside the buoyant club cut “You Can Do It.” Daphni’s third album, Cherry, emerged in 2022, after which Caribou resurfaced in 2024 with the U.K. garage-tinged single “Honey.” The accompanying full-length Honey represented the project’s complete turn toward exuberant, polished club music.