ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Mesmerising and undulating, Our Love draws you into its wonder: sparkling light underpinned with a deeper darkness.The kaleidoscopic artwork of Caribou’s Our Love reflects the aural tapestry contained within, equal parts gossamer and viscous.
The title track is a glinting, sun-dappled cloud, anchored with snapping snares and softened by glimmering synths, billowing out to a house anthem by its end. Downtempo ‘Dive’ is an exercise in fluid electronica, followed by ‘Second Chance’ – the most vocal-driven track on the album, a collaboration with singer Jessy Lanza, and the closest thing to a club banger of the lot. ‘Back Home’ throws out cavernous vocals that echo back atop staccato beats, before bleeps and trills lead into the gradual build of closer ‘Your Love Will Set You Free’.
This is outwardly simple, yet deceptively complex music, something Dan Snaith has now mastered, and the elements wash over each other beautifully. For all its celebration of love, the album dips into a darkness that is often what makes the light so bright. There is an undercurrent of melancholy to each song, whether in the increasingly frenzied repetition of the mantra-esque title (and only lyric) in ‘Can’t Do Without You’, or the mournfully waning love in ‘All I Ever Need’.
4/5.
Our Loveis out now through City Slang/Inertia.
