Brightest Young Things

Rating system
0 stars - Complete and utter garbage
1 star - Best just not to ever press play, save your ears for another day
2 stars - Not completely atrocious, but one you’ll probably forget about as soon as it’s over
3 stars - Good, but not great, likely with some excellent songs and others you’ll skip right through
4 stars - Damn good album, one you’ll definitely want to enjoy again and again
5 stars - Instant Classic

Caribou - Andorra
Rating: ***

When I think about Caribou, I think about two things: the audacious legal battle that forced instrumentalist Dan Snaith to modify his moniker from the much cooler Manitoba, and blasting "Yeti" on my 21st birthday while my roommate and I sipped on vodka and launched BBs at a junk-heap car that had occupied our driveway for a solid nine months.

Snaith's knack for production and instrumentation has been a chronic source of inspiration – whether that comes in the form of misanthropic sunrises, or alcohol-fueled pellet blasting.

Andorra comes out of Snaith's womb with a burst of rocket fuel. "Melody Day," the album's debut single and opening track, is a pleasant little jaunt that sounds more peppy, but also more moody than Snaith's recent work under his new nickname. The track is an interrupt, almost as if the listener is showing up late to the party. There's no introduction or buildup that Snaith is recognized for creating, it's just wham, bam, here's a song.

Sadly, the rest of the record is solid, but hardly memorable, blending to a sometimes boring homogeny. "She's the One" sounds like a psychic tribal trip through '60s influenced jangle-pop, but when you aren't listening to the track, you can't remember it for the life of you.
"Sundialing" stands out above the bulk of the tracks — Snaith fans will recognize the throwback to the old-style of Manitoba sound, while newbies will appreciate the simplicity that comes before pan flute and the shifty robotic vocal dissolve. And when the drums kick in, it's almost like you're listening to Manitoba's "Up in Flames" all over again; a well-appreciated nostalgic reminder of an era once past, even though it was only half a decade ago.

But tracks like "Niobe," the epic-in-length closing track, try to do too much. Electronic wind chimes and a car-crash of synthesizers make the track sound entirely too busy. And what's with the Mannheim Steamroller-like synth-loop? The effect seems as inappropriate as Mitt Romney at a gay pride march.

While the album contains some general pleasant moments, it's just not up to par with Snaith's other works. But we can't consider this album a mistake or a falter point, it's just solid filler. Andorra feels a lot like The Milk Of Human Kindness v1.5 – so let's just hold tight, and wait for a proper follow-up.