To come clean immediately, it’s impossible for me to write this review objectively. Caribou is Dan Snaith, from my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (though he now lives in the UK). I’ve seen him several times, own all his records – including the ones under his former moniker, Manitoba – and the night before his FujiRock performance, I got to meet his family. Impartial, I’m not.
That said, it was almost like seeing a different band entirely on Saturday. In the midst of opening slots on the Radiohead tour, Caribou (which refers to Snaith as well as his band) hit the stage and launched immediately into their brand of densely layered, occasionally psychedelic, frequently melodic electronica. It’s complex dance music, but the enormous crowd didn’t find it too confusing – they just danced, start to finish.
Snaith, clad simply in jeans and white t-shit, played an assortment of instruments including guitar, keys, recorder, drums and other items. Bandmates Ryan Smith, Brad Weber and John Schmersal didn’t stick to one instrument either – I’m pretty sure Weber was triggering something off his drum kit, but I couldn’t tell…but then again, that was in line with the rest of the music. Sounds kind of entered the songs out of nowhere, and you were never sure who was doing what or when they were going to do it. Every song was a surprise, even if you knew it already.
The set leaned heavily on their latest record, Swim, though most of the songs were rearranged in some fashion, making them at times funkier, at times crazier. When they weren’t playing instrumentals, Snaith sang (with assistance from Smith), his melodies as catchy as anything by a more traditional singer—songwriter. There was nothing traditional about these tracks, though, from “Odessa” to “Leave House” to the remarkable closer, “Sun.” “Sun” built steadily over a driving beat and Snaith’s repetition of the title, until it exploded out over the crowd and the stage went dark.
The rest of the time, the stage was a flickering array of strobes and blue and red beams of light, and the experience was remarkable. You’ll probably get a chance to see Snaith in smaller settings during the rest of his career, but if you can see them in a setting like this, all I can say is: do it.
Photo: 熊沢 泉 For more photos go here.