Be careful the next time you silently curse the person next to you in class for chatting too much or hogging the armrest— they might just turn out to be a rock star. This dream is slowly turning into reality for U of T alum Dan Snaith, who performs under the name Caribou and has just released his fourth album.
The new record, Andorra, is Snaith’s first release on Merge Records, recently tipped by Rolling Stone as a potential breakout—not bad for a guy who spent the late 90s hanging out at University College and making music on a computer in his dorm room.
“I made my first and part of my second albums while I was a student at U of T,” said Snaith. “This was the first album I’ve made while I wasn’t a student at the same time.”
He looks back fondly on the time he spent pursuing not only a career in music, but a Bachelor of Mathematics as well.
“I was always doing both, which I really liked, because being a student is a flexible lifestyle. For example, I was a TA at U of T and didn’t have to work apart from that, so the student life was good to be able to make music without having to worry about working.”
Snaith released his first two records under the name Manitoba, but hit a major snag in 2004 when he was hit with a lawsuit by Handsome Dick Manitoba, singer of The Dictators, a 70s punk band from New York.
Snaith explained, “We were doing a gig in L.A. and I got served with a court subpoena just before we went on stage by a private investigator that the guy had hired. I couldn’t even believe it.” Choosing not to ring up the $500,000 legal fees that it would cost to fight the suit, Snaith decided to change the band’s name.
Ironically, it was on a trip through the province of Manitoba that he settled on the name Caribou, and the band’s profile has been rising ever since.
While his first few records were electronica-based, featuring heavy percussion and sparse vocals, Andorra is Snaith’s first venture into the pop realm. The record combines the percussive elements of Snaith’s electronic beginnings with a quickly developing pop sensibility.
“I felt I had never written proper pop songs before, so the real focus for me was making melodies and harmonies that were really strong.” Andorra sees Snaith singing more than ever before, and he stressed the importance that he placed on vocals when crafting the album.
“The voice is a totally unique instrument for conveying emotion and connecting with people. I wanted to give the compositions I was writing as much emotional weight as possible.”
The result of this new direction is an album reminiscent of 60s psychedelia, with an element of the Beach Boys’ baroque- pop compositions.
Despite the fact that he explores new territory with each Caribou disc, Snaith is determined to continue writing, performing and recording every part of each album by himself. He claimed that working alone simply comes naturally to him, saying, “I’m so used to working this way. It would almost be strange for me to be with a band in a proper recording studio. I’ve never really recorded in that environment at all.”
Having completed his Ph.D. in Mathematics at Imperial College London, Snaith is now living in England, and it appears he has put academia aside, at least for now.
“It was really hectic when we were touring a lot more and the albums were getting a higher profile, taking up a lot more of my time. Being a student was getting to be a bit crazy at the end.”
