Caribou Shares First Album in Six Years, 'Suddenly' Out Friday

This Friday, Dan Snaith, aka Caribou, releases his first album in six years, Suddenly, via Merge Records. In support of the new LP, Caribou tours across North America next month, followed by dates in Europe and eventually back to the States for Coachella 2020.

Suddenly comes after a stream of well-received singles, "Home", "You and I", and "Never Come Back". Each single reintroduces listeners to the melodic, soothing music Caribou is known and loved for. Playable on the dancefloor or while lounging at home, it's a record that enjoins repeated listens in all sorts of settings.

Suddenly is the most surprising and unpredictable Caribou album to date. Though it retains the trademark Caribou warmth and technicolor, this album is littered with swerves and left turns. Songs drop out and morph into something else entirely just as they're hitting their stride, samples chopped up beyond all recognition burst out of nowhere. "You and I" starts as a dreamy, undeniably Caribou-esque love song before breaking down into a huge chorus peppered with sampled yelps, and finally going completely rogue with a screaming guitar solo, which swaggers into being from nowhere.

In 2014, Dan Snaith, aka Caribou, released Our Love to overwhelming critical acclaim, a Polaris Prize nomination, and year-end recognition from Rolling Stone, Consequence of Sound, and Pitchfork, who recently declared the album one of the best of the 2010s. Now, Caribou returns with his seventh studio album, Suddenly, an album about family and the changes we go through as those relationships evolve. Our Love provided an open-armed exploration of the concept of love in its grandest form, both as an expression of gratitude to his fans and as an examination of that one thing that matters most in life. Suddenly, however, takes that concept and winnows it down, directly applying it to real life and the people to whom that love means the most. Suddenly refers to the moments of dramatic and unexpected change that occur at points in any life and within any family - universal themes that catch you off guard and change your life in a heartbeat.

As with previous Caribou albums, Suddenly was mined from hundreds of draft ideas (this time over 900). "I record music every day, and I love it - as much or more than I have always done. I feel very lucky - the thrill has never, ever left me," Snaith says.

There is a moment where the daunting piling up of rough ideas morphs into an album quickly taking shape. "For the last few albums at least, there's been a point about three-quarters of the way through where I work late into the night (as usual), but when I try and go to bed, ideas keep forcing me to get up and go back to the studio again," Snaith recalls. "It happens over and over in one night. I can feel the gears whirring as I lie there trying to sleep, and I can't ignore the ideas for fear that it will be gone when I wake up the next morning."

So for all the strings Snaith has to his bow these days, this is the drive to continue to make Caribou albums. Full bodies of work where Snaith is able to evaluate things, look at those around him, and celebrate them. As his passion and joy in music-making remains as fresh as ever, Suddenly is the purest example of this yet.

North American tour dates:

16 Mar - Hamilton, ON @The Studio SOLD OUT

17 Mar - Toronto, ON @ Danforth SOLD OUT

18 Mar - Toronto, ON @ Danforth SOLD OUT

19 Mar - Toronto, ON @ Danforth

20 Mar - Chicago, IL @ Riviera

21 Mar - Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrews Hall

22 Mar - Ottawa, ON @ Bronson Centre SOLD OUT

23 Mar - Montreal, QC @ M Telus

24 Mar - Boston, MA @ House of Blues

25 Mar - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer

26 Mar - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club (Early show)

27 Mar - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel SOLD OUT

28 Mar - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel (Early show)

28 Mar - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel SOLD OUT

11 Apr - Indio, CA @ Coachella

13 Apr - Austin, TX @ Emo's

14 Apr - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall

15 Apr - Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater

18 Apr - Indio, CA @ Coachella

01 May - Miami, FL @ III Points

02 May - Miami, FL @ III Points

02 Aug - Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Festival

UK tour dates:

30 Mar - Brighton @ The Dome

01 Apr - Liverpool @ Invisible Wind Factory

02 Apr - Leeds @ O2 Academy Leeds

03 Apr - Manchester @ O2 Victoria Warehouse

04 Apr - Glasgow @ The Barrowlands SOLD OUT

05 Apr - Birmingham @ O2 Academy Birmingham

06 Apr - Bristol @ O2 Academy Bristol

07 Apr - London @ O2 Academy Brixton SOLD OUT

23 May - London @ All Points East

European tour dates:

21 Apr - Hamburg, DE @ Grosse Freiheit 36

23 Apr - Prague, CZ @ Forum Karlin

24 Apr - Vienna, AT @ Gasometer

25 Apr - Munich, DE @ Muffathalle

26 Apr - Zurich, CH @ Kaufleuten

27 Apr - Paris, FR @ L'Olympia

28 Apr - Cologne, DE @ E-werk

29 Apr - Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli Vredenburg / Ronda

30 Apr - Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique / Chapiteau - Botanique

25 Jun - Rome, IT @ Roma Summer Fest

09 Jul - Bilbao, ES @ Bilbao BBK Live

10 Jul - Lisbon, PT @ NOS Alive

11 Jul - Dublin, IE @ Iveagh Gardens

12 Aug - Vilnius, LT @ Botanical Garden

15 Aug - Berlin, DE @ Zitadelle / Caribou and Friends

16 Aug - Kiev, UA @ Art-Zavod Platforma

Photo Credit: Thomas Neukum

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