A legendary act in electronic music, Caribou is back with more music. Following up on his 2020 project, Suddenly, the Canadian artist just turned in another stellar effort. Here’s everything you need to know about what Caribou accomplished with Honey.
Caribou & Honey Provide A Joyful Switch-Up
“Broke My Heart” is a perfect tone-setter for the overwhelming, celebratory atmosphere that Caribou carries through Honey, flip-flopping between a chipper vocal sample & chunky piano chords and deep bass sections that recall some of Deep House’s best. The title track that follows maintains that atmosphere, which is impossible not to bob your head to.
It’s important to note that Caribou, carrying a tradition endemic to electronic music specifically, has an alter ego. On top of his venerated, decades-long catalog under that name, Dan Snaith operates as Daphni, eschewing the experimental home base of his main project for dance floor fodder. Though we’ve gotten new material under that “side project” recently, Honey imparts the sense that the barriers between either namesake are beginning to fall away.
A great example of the unison between either side of Snaith’s production comes with “Come Find Me.” Eminently groovy, the song feels molded in the same world of Daft Punk’s “Voyager,” or if you’ll forgive evoking such an adulated track, Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better With You.” Few tackle that era of French House if only because of Daft Punk’s continuing legacy, but Caribou strikes a perfect chord with his attempt, producing a hooky end product while simultaneously flexing his knowledge of the electronic legends that came before him.
More Emotional Material Dots The Tracklist Late
A central turning point arrives with “Campfire,” circling back to the “you broke my heart” sample from the opener but approaching emo in a 120-second interlude. Part of why this song feels so distinct in this tracklist is the emotional dissonance, maintaining the atmosphere of disconnection but, at the risk of being overly simplistic, indeed sounding heartbroken. Though more somber undernotes often meet cheerful instrumentation on this project, this is the most affecting cut in the tracklist, bar none, embracing those darker emotions fully.
Long-time fans of Caribou will note how Honey diverges from his previous, more experimental work, but this marks the most accessible project the Canadian producer has released yet. Check the project out wherever you stream your music.
Elsewhere in our coverage, check out our recap of INJI’s tour stop in NYC.
