Caribou – Swim

I knew Caribou was good, and I didn't own anything by him, and I had had this album on my wantlist for a while, but I couldn't remember why or whether I still wanted it.

But, because I found it on offer cheaply while picking up a FSOL album from a Discogs seller, I added it to my cart to save on postage.

It is very mellow. Kind of reminds me of Four Tet in a lot of ways. Mellow, relaxing ambient/deep electronica with tribal influences.

It won a lot of awards on release, and I can see why. It is a very nice wind-down album, similar to a lot of records I have from the 'Late Night Tales' mix series. Definitely fits well into my collection.

How does a Caribou SWIM, you might ask? Quite well, as a matter of fact. Dan Snaith moves further in an electronic direction with this album, starting with a deeper, almost funky "Odessa" and moving to the jazzy syncopation and filtered vocal of the more house-centric "Sun." The refracting synths come against a horn band and his plaintive vocals on "Kaili," whereas the harp and bell tones on the instrumental "Bowls" add an almost Buddhist texture to the low-key rhythm. "Hannibal," similarly, has a wooziness to its synths which carries into the subdued groove of "Lalibela" before the "Jamelia" comes in quiet as a lamb before exploding like a lion eating dynamite. Definitely one of Snaith's stronger efforts.

So I just bought Merge's pressing at a store in my area, and there seems to be a problem with the stereo, has anyone experienced an album with the right track playing extremely faintly? I've resorted to mono.