Caribou Learns How to 'Swim' on New Album

After holing up in his London flat for more than year to complete 'Swim,' the hotly anticipated follow-up to his Polaris Music Prize-winning album 'Andorra,' Daniel Snaith, mastermind behind Caribou, is saying goodbye to his reclusive lifestyle. Again.

"I have this kind of bi-polar life," he tells Spinner on the line from the UK. "When I'm at home I'm really kind of isolated making music, and then we tour loads. I love both extremes: being by myself and in control of every musical decision that's made, and focusing so much on what I'm doing to the exclusion of almost everything else, and then touring, which is sociable and about the interaction of the four of us on stage -- a very different process, but I love it just as much."

When fans take 'Swim' (available today via Merge/City Slang) for a test drive, they're sure to pick up on Caribou's latest sonic infatuation, as the record has a decidedly dance-music vibe.

"While I was making 'Andorra' I was listening to this producer named James Holden, and I just heard something from him that sounded totally different from a lot of other dance music I was listening to," says Snaith. "There is this real sense of a great tension and release to his music and that sort of triggered the idea for 'Swim,' to make dance music that sounds really fluid, like waves that wash up and wash over you."

Although a nod to yesteryear served the Ontario native well on 'Andorra,' Snaith felt it necessary to abandon the throwback theme.

"On the last record there was a lot of '60s production, which I think made it too easy for myself and for other people. 'Oh, I understand, this guy is one of those guys who loves the '60s and is nostalgic about that whole culture' -- that's not me at all, so I want to push forward and do something new, to me at least."

"The big thing this time," he continues, "was finding my own sonic palette; my own vocabulary of sounds and combinations of instruments."

The nine tracks that comprise 'Swim' suggest that Snaith has done just that. A dazzling affair that relies on waving synths and techno flourishes to lull listeners into a pleasurable trance, the disc is quality -- which explains why Born Ruffians' Luke Lalonde agreed to lend his vocal talents to album closer 'Jamelia'.

For those fans particularly inspired by the new collection, Snaith is holding a remix contest for 'Sun,' a track featured on 'Swim,' until May 7 through SoundCloud. While remix contests are becoming increasingly popular these days, the musician reveals that it was actually a pretty big deal for him to launch one.

"I've only let three people, previous to this, remix my music over the course of eight years and they've all been really close friends," he says. "I've been kind of a control freak about it. I've been kind of like, 'this is how I want the songs to sound and I don't want people getting in there and messing with them.' Lately, though, I've become more comfortable and relaxed about everything, and it just felt like a really nice thing to do now that I feel this way."

Caribou's tour in support of 'Swim' kicks off April 20 at Corsica Studios in London, England.