I was all set to finish up my review of the next album on my Top Ten list, The Apples In Stereo’s New Magnetic Wonder when I started listening to a record that I just downloaded the other night, Caribou’s Andorra.
I was halted in my tracks, breathless.
I’ve long been a fan of orchestral pop music. It’s been making a comeback in the past few years, with Sufjan Stevens’ state-theme albums and all, which I like. I mean, I have the Beach Boys “In My Room” on my Top Five All-Time Songs. I habitually listen to tracks from their unreleased opus, Smile. I don’t necessarily have an obsession as much as a healthy respect and admiration for the genre, let’s put it that way.
Now, I know jack shit about Caribou, aside from the fact that it’s one guy, Daniel Snaith. Kind of like Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor…except not unnecessarily angry about everything. In fact, most of this album, and most orchestral pop in general in my opinion, alternates between two distinct emotions: bliss and melancholy.
An example of the melancholy side on Andorra is the song “Desiree,” which plays out like a pleading letter to a lost love, se to a heartbreakingly beautiful backdrop of harp and woodwinds, of course.
On the other side of the coin is “Melody Day”…wait, that’s also melancholy. It has it’s uplifting moments, though. Actually, for the most part, this is a beautifully melancholy album, full of lost loves and missed opportunities. It evokes memories of the Beach Boys orchestration and harmonies (even if he is harmonizing with himself, which is totally cheating) and Elliott Smith’s beautiful defeat and pain. It melds these and many other influences that I’m not even close to savvy enough to catch into a wonderful end result.
Since I started writing this review, I’ve listened to Andorra twice all the way through. The second time around, it was just as captivating and gorgeous as the first. I can’t imagine what the third listen will bring, and that’s something you can’t say about a lot of records these days. That’s why, at first blush, I decided to throw Caribou’s Andorra up on my Top Ten Albums of 2007 list.
Link to Merge’s full album stream of Andorra.
Previous Posts in my Top Ten Countdown, 2007
