Fireside Chat

Caribou

City Slang, Merge, Canada

Dan Snaith is an interesting specimen in the world of music. He resembles your average high school geography teacher and has a PhD in Mathematics, yet he's chosen to make music and unsurprisingly he's got rather good at it. Dan produced first his album 'Start Breaking My Heart', back in 2001 under the pseudonym Manitoba, winning praise for his innovative use of melody and clever rhythms. Several years later and things have moved on for the tenacious Dr. Snaith. An absurd lawsuit from one Richard 'Handsome Dick' Manitoba forced him to change his name to Caribou, he's been touring like a demon, and he's taken up swimming in a big way (hence the title of his 2010 long player 'Swim'). His music has matured with his experiences too. The focus has shifted from looping tracks to carefully balancing harmonies and he has strived to give his creations a more liquid feel, though that is not to say that his music has become less organic (the single 'Odessa' was composed spontaneously one morning before a swim). He's certainly doing something right, as in times of stormy seas for music, Caribou is keeping his head well above water.