#76 Caribou

In their latest album, Andorra, Caribou multiply layers, double, triple voices, pile filters up, stress the rhythms, put some echo, delay, reverberation, a little something, in a psychedelic onrush where gracious melodies are magically floating. It is sonic, powerful and eager. On the very same evening, at la Flèche d’Or, they applied the same recipe: two drums, a lot of sound and electricity.

With us, they played acoustic. Their very first acoustic show. Two acoustic guitars and an electric one plugged on a little amp, a tambourine, a little pedal to tune the whole thing up, in spite of the cold, mittens and bonnets. We were altogether confined in the cramped van, but the music was light, rocking us. They took us by surprise for the first take of She’s The One, and took a whole class for the second take. It was cold outside, and the instant was light.

However, we could not keep them from making noise forever. The van was there, and in the back there was a whole set drums Dan Snaith and his buddies decided to put together at the end of the session. There was this hammering at the far end of the alley, these guitars repeating arpeggios until dizzy spell, this old man who would open his door every five minutes to spy on us, to see what was happening. Then Dan started to run to join the drums. Caribou was making noise again, Caribou was happy.