Caribou makes intimate dance music that’s irresistibly personalon March 13, 2020 at 8:30 pm

Update: To help slow the spread of COVID-19, this show has been postponed until further notice. Ticket holders should contact point of purchase for refund or exchange information.

Canadian artist Dan Snaith, who performs as Caribou, crafts mesmerizing explorations of dance music that are alluring, catchy, and intimate. He distills various strains of house music into simple moods and fleshes out the emotions of each track with gently spoken vocals. This is especially true on his latest album, Suddenly (Merge). On “Home,” Snaith sings along with a sample from the Gloria Barnes song of the same name, capturing his love for music and for a woman who’s found contentment in life. “New Jade” speaks of someone on the precipice of fulfillment and healing after a breakup, and its skittering hip-hop instrumentation and sampling push toward that catharsis. Snaith’s voice anchors many of these songs, but it feels most crucial on “Never Come Back,” a wistful piano-house track where he reminisces about a past relationship; for most of the song he simply riffs on the title, but every so often he moves into a higher register to deliver a few more lyrics, suffusing the song with new tenderness and vulnerability. Even on songs where Snaith’s voice isn’t as prominent, he can make a similar softness felt; on “Ravi,” he lays a fractured vocal sample over a shuffling two-step beat, then comes in to sing a couple lines. Whether Snaith is producing the music or singing over it, he always finds ways to keep you emotionally invested. v

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