music review: Honey by Caribou
2024-10-15 21:50
this is an album that is new (to me) and i thought i would write about it! i had intended to highlight more albums on this post, but this ended up being a longer review.
Dan Snaith has been making music for a long time now, first as Manitoba and now under Caribou. He’s also made more dancefloor-ready tracks under the Daphni moniker for the good part of a decade now.
In that respect, this latest Caribou album seems more like a Daphni record. As the title suggests, the album glistens all over with bouncy, sugary beats. this is most notable in the a-side: “Honey” is playful and energetic, and the UKG-inspired drop feels very on trend. “Do Without You” (a thematic sequel to “Can’t Do Without You” perhaps?) has a similarly infectious synth that carries with it a sense of longing.
After listening to the album a few times, I began to notice that the vocals were a bit… off. And indeed, upon research I learned that’s because Snaith uses “AI”-powered voice modification throughout. In “Broke My Heart” the vocals are high-pitched and have traces of Snaith’s natural falsetto, but as opposed to standard pitch-shifting the timbre also changes to resemble something feminine and perhaps youthful. But on “Campfire” Snaith makes the questionable decision to affect the vocal timbre of a masculine, African-American voice.
Do I think this sounds good? Well, have you ever smelled Angel by Thierry Mugler? How it smells nice at first and then you smell a little longer and all the notes make it smell synthetic and uncanny and saccharine? Yeah. And yet I keep a sampler of Angel around because the uncanniness makes it interesting! I don’t think Snaith is trying to be deceptive here (not like he’s invoking the ghost of 2Pac or anything…) and I think it is thematically appropriate, but I could do without.
The album’s lyricism is a little bittersweet despite the sugary production. It’s not as sad as his previous albums Andorra or Suddenly, but I’m drawn to sad, wistful lyrics. “Come Find Me” is classic Caribou beneath all the filters, and feels like a daydream where I’m frolicking among the sunflowers in the park. Likewise with closer “Got to Change”: deceptively simple, repetitious, melodic, and draws you in. The songwriting, on the other hand, plays it a bit too safe. I have known Caribou for taking unexpected sonic turns throughout his songs in the past, all of his decisions on Honey feel very predictable. I think the questionable decision to use AI vocals, along with the very trendy references to UKG and hyperpop, indicate that he’s gunning for something that the algorithm will like.
It’s been good to hear Dan Snaith’s more clubby side contained in a more headphone-ready album structure, and it’s clear he’s trying something new. I think it’s kind of messy structurally but I don’t mind that. It’s novel and feels great but I end up not having to think about it too much and that’s a shame because I’ll tire of it eventually.
But for now, I’ve been really enjoying binging to this on the train. Everything from this bunch of UK-ish, 40-something dudes (Caribou, Four Tet1, Floating Points2, Bonobo) seems to soundtrack my commutes for me and I’m not sure why. Unlike those other albums, Honey feels immediate enough that makes me want to actually dance on the train itself! It’s worth a listen, and then maybe a few extra dozen times more, but then after that maybe not. and maybe skip through that rap verse.