Caribou Concert

I saw Caribou. Not the so-called "supermodels of the animal kingdom", but the band from Ontario. I bought a pink t-shirt to commemorate the event. (Hey, I didn't know it was pink, I thought it was red!) I've listened to Dan Snaith's music for years now, first under the moniker Manitoba and now reincarnated as Caribou but I'd never seen them live until last night. It only took about five minutes of them playing to realize that my $18 was well-spent. Snaith fronts the band sideways, playing guitar, keyboard, electronics and drums. Not all at once of course, which means the band has a dedicated drummer. This young guy on the skins (a replacement apparently?) has his kit set up at the very front of the stage, and for good reason. Usually drummers are relegated to the back, providing a backbeat to the overall music, but in Caribou, the drums are the music. And when Snaith jumps onto the second drum kit to bash out hard-hitting, manic rhythms in sync with the sweating drummer, the sound is intense. They play both the same beats, producing just a big, thick rhythmic sound, and complementary beats, sometimes sufficiently complex to make your head spin. Most Caribou songs are a long build from weird sublime melodies, sometimes with Snaith playing a recorder, to manic, barely held-together rhythmic chaos. It's like that part at the end of a song, where everybody lets the feedback kick in and the drummer goes crazy, except that with them it goes on for about five minutes and it has a constant rhythm, breaks and all. The bassist sings as well as Snaith and their voices harmonize nicely, sweetly in tune with the big sound of the eclectic guitarist who plays on a big hollow-body jazz guitar. All in all, a very full sound.

It was weird being out at a show again, but good, and I think it was sufficiently inspiring musically-speaking, that I'm going to pick up the guitar again and start jamming with friends. I'll be sporting my pink shirt for sure.