Dan Snaith laughs as he talks about the 900 draft ideas that went into Suddenly, his new album as Caribou. “Yeah, it sounds nuts, but that’s just how I work,” he says. “I’ll just sit down in my little basement studio, make a track, and move on to the next one. Do that every day for a few years, and you end up with a mountain of half-finished songs.” It’s almost hard to believe anyone would be crazy enough to sift through all that to find the gems, but here we are.
It’s been a while since Caribou’s last record, Our Love, dropped in 2014. Snaith has kept busy under his dance-heavy Daphne moniker, but coming back to Caribou felt like returning to his musical “home base.” Suddenly might sound nothing like its predecessor, but that’s the point. “Our Love was polished and poppy,” he explains. “This one’s way rougher around the edges—embracing accidents and weirdness instead of smoothing them out.”
And that’s not an accident. Snaith is fully aware that we’re living in a moment where mainstream music is finally starting to get weird again. “Pop is embracing minimalism and odd production choices like never before,” he says, clearly delighted. “People are bored with generic, soundalike pop songs. They want something that catches them off guard.”
Tracks like “Home,” with its Gloria Barnes sample, lean into a soul-meets-R&B vibe that feels fresh without sounding too on-trend. It’s got just enough pop accessibility to pull you in, but plenty of left turns to keep you guessing. Turns out, we can thank Snaith’s friend and frequent collaborator Kieran Hebden (a.k.a. Four Tet) for pushing the track’s final arrangement. “I’d made two different versions—one with a breakbeat and one more laid-back—and Kieran suggested blending them. It was one of those things where I was too close to see it.”
For all its sonic exploration, Suddenly is also rooted in personal loss and change. Snaith’s been through some stuff—family crises, growing responsibilities, even becoming a dad again—and those moments shape the album’s tone. “It’s not really a sad record, though,” he insists. “There’s a sense of optimism in it—taking hardship and finding something comforting within it.”
That sense of making the best out of chaos extends to the live show too. “We’re still figuring it out, but we’re doing something bigger with the visuals this time around,” he hints. “The band lives all over the world, so we’re practicing on our own and then crashing together to see what happens.”
In the end, Snaith doesn’t seem too fussed about how the album will be received. “I just wanted to make something I love and not worry about making it fit into anyone’s expectations. If it connects, that’s great. If it doesn’t, well, I’m just happy to be playing this stuff again.”
Listen to the interview above and then check out the videos below.
