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Spirited Reinvention
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Caribou: The Milk of Human Kindness
The Leaf/Domino, 2005
Rating: 4.3
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Posted: May
2,
2005
By
Laurence Station
Being forced by way of litigation to change his performing handle from the
sixth largest Canadian province to an outsized reindeer native to the colder
climes of North America hasn’t deterred stylistically restless laptop
composer Dan Snaith. The Milk of Human Kindness is a confident, more
daring (if less stunning overall) successor to Snaith’s 2003 breakthrough
Up in Flames. Branding
being the important marketing tool that it is, Snaith’s swift transformation
from Manitoba to Caribou (including the re-labeling of his back catalog) is
laudable. (Whether Richard Blum -- otherwise known as Handsome Dick
Manitoba, lead singer of long-fossilized punk rockers the Dictators --
actually stands to benefit from filing a trademark-infringement lawsuit
against Snaith is another matter.)
Where Up in Flames was open and carefree, The Milk of Human
Kindness is controlled and precise. Snaith continually subverts
expectations, refusing to let the songs flow gracefully from one track to
the next. Prime example: the three-track sequence of “Bees,” “Hands First”
and “Hello Hammerheads,” which moves from a groovy-guitar, open-highway
cruiser to a stunted, spastic breakout (reminiscent of late ’60s Captain
Beefheart) to psychedelic British folk, with Snaith flatly delivering lines
like, “She told me to stay or go away / And I looked in her eyes and left
her.” The range of styles is impressive, which trumps the lack of logical or
elegant transitioning. Snaith may be showing off, but at least he’s backing
it up with strong and memorable arrangements.
As dissimilar as the individual pieces sound, Snaith successfully manages,
via animal and geographically-based titles (not to mention naming a song
after electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick) to weave a boldly shamanistic vision-quest
vibe through
the album. The vibrant, extroverted “A Final Warning” jumps all over the
musical map, boasting a powerful motorik beat, chopped and distorted vocals
cut at the syllable, and a cacophonously messy climax that brings to mind
raging fires and dancing figures attempting to summon forth the perfect
digital note. “Brahminy Kite” and the opening “Yeti” are closest in
structure to the Up in Flames material, the former working off of a
crashing cymbals-booming drumbeat combo and the latter fashioning sun-baked
synthesizer lines, with both shaking a “C'mon, get happy” tambourine with
the verve of an eternal optimist during a post-Iowa Howard Dean pep rally.
“Pelican Narrows” mixes DJ Shadow-ish, stylized piano with a sample of
persistently buzzing flies and lazy hand claps; the closing “Barnowl” builds
on a steadily throbbing electronic hustle and bustle that sounds like
background noise to a futurecast traffic report from the 22nd century.
While nothing here approaches the dazzling ebullience of Flames’ “Kid
You'll Move Mountains,” Milk emphatically proves to be a progression
on the ideas Snaith’s been exploring since his 2001 debut, Start Breaking
My Heart. The familiar adage “the only rules are that there are no rules”
certainly applies to Snaith’s adventurous approach to making music: He’s
still supercolliding different styles and discovering what sticks, and where
the quest takes him is anyone’s guess. But be it as Manitoba or Caribou,
there’s little chance Snaith will cease pushing the boundaries of familiar
convention and form. It's doubtful Handsome Dick can say the same.
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