Final Rating: 9.7/10
Toronto native Daniel Snaith has been one of the most consistent electronic musicians to date. No matter what moniker he has gone by (Manitoba, Daphni or Caribou), he has put out success after success. With his longest running project Caribou (spawned after Snaith was threatened with lawsuits over the name Manitoba), he has won much acclaim and even a Polaris prize. With Our Love, he has quite possibly topped himself. This could be his best work, and that’s saying a lot when you’re talking about someone as expansively triumphant as he is. Our Love is as dream like as its cover depicts, and it goes deep down into the layers of unconsciousness to uncover tender walls of sound.
The entire release is exuberant, and even its softer moments are upbeat. Our Love does not get plagued by the common goal of trying to be a multidimensional release because it just is that way. Snaith doesn’t force in emotions here. If anything, any song can be dissected and argued over with what they represent. Is the 2014 defining song Can’t Do Without You a song of hope or a cry for help? The parading beat suggests optimism, but the whirring tornado of noise reminds me more of the sensation one feels when they choke. All I Ever Need will proclaim its title, and the song will stand back and slow down before going back into full force. That prolonged reaction cannot be a good thing, yet the song giving the vocal line a chance isn’t too shabby either. The digital vocals sound like the voices in our head trying to coax us into moving in. We can’t listen to our thoughts, as they don’t know what heartbreak feels like. Snaith does, though, and he has blurred that tragedy with the fleeting sensation of butterflies one gets when they are lovesick.
Our Love is so well produced that this subconscious dive is a cozy one. The bass is thick enough to sound partially menacing, and yet it will never obstruct the song. Sounds will take trips amongst the layers of pitch and tone, but constructed layers do not exist here. It is so difficult to differentiate specific settings Caribou has set instrumental tracks at, because so many of the melodic sounds will work their way around as if boundaries do not exist. I can imagine Snaith’s layout looking more like a series of barcodes or a rack of staples more than crafted soundclips, because there is so much work done here. Our Love still sounds mellifluous, and Snaith’s interest in dream pop and shoegaze from his Manitoba days are used to their full potential here. While he does work with well written melodies, Snaith takes full advantage of the relationships between noises on Our Love that the songs will often sound like one unique sound trying to branch out into different entities, and not many ideas glued together to make one audible track.
Production wonders aside, this album is just undeniably catchy. Second Chance is like a pop song from the early 2000’s making a comeback, and this nostalgic turn only adds colours to the album. Silver is a pulsating riot from the moment it starts, and much of its groove-based accomplishments echo throughout the entire album. Mars, the album’s most caustic track, is a warning of an oncoming horror that chases you profusely. If you focus solely on the more boastful songs like these or observe the more relaxing tracks like Our Love and Julia Brightly, you’d get an album with too clear of a vision. Our Love is far more dignified than that, you’ll find. With such accessibility to an entire pallet of emotions, Our Love is an album for anytime and anywhere. It will enhance your surroundings no matter what. You won’t be lost, though, because every song has a set of blueprints clear enough to stay in your head and remind you of the architecture of the album. You’re just given enough leeway to interpret these plans in any way you wish.
Our Love is an album to dance to and to cry to. You can ponder with it but also be mindless with it. It is the daydream of the worried adult and the party of those who have seized the day. It boils down to the ups and downs of passion we all experience universally. You won’t find any artificial interpretations here. Our Love is real enough to emanate its own nervous system, and all of its sensory points can be experimented with. It lives its own existence, and yet we find our very own within it. We hear our own insecurities within Back Home, but it is up to us to define the sorrows as a defining feature of the album or of ourselves. Either possibility is there depending on how we feel.
Dan Snaith has truly outdone himself with Our Love. Our Love is a combined experience between what the album gives us and what we give it. It is an unforgettable release as complicated as the experience of being enamored of another. This audial representation of infatuation is a complete spectacle, and it truly is a staple within the music scene of 2014.
