Polaris-ing opinion: Caribou takes Canadian Mercury

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by Rob Webb [Edit this content] ▾ 10 comments 15:30 September 30th, 2008

The season for giving is almost upon us (again?!), but it looks like our Canadian friends have started early this year. Their equivalent of the Mercury prize (the Polaris) last night went to Dan Snaith, aka Caribou, for his masterful Andorra LP. The decision, reached by secret ballot and not a Mercury-esque mass consensus, means Snaith will now be some £10,000 richer.

Born in London, Ontario, he now resides in London, England (where he moved to study a PhD in maths) - the winning album was reportedly written and recorded in his Islington bedroom. All of which makes him the musical equivalent of Owen Hargreaves, says us. Congratulations Caribou!

DiScuss: former DiS newshound Kev Kharas gave Andorra a miserly 6/10 on its release last year. Is he nuts?

Video: Caribou, 'She's The One'

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yeah he's nuts

it was a 7/10 fo' sho'

Little_Discourage | 30 Sep '08, 15:50 | X | Reply

yeah

brilliant album.

fuck_this_band | 30 Sep '08, 16:11 | X | Reply

I'd say 8/10

And the track Melody Day is simply fantastic.

ed_zeppelin @Little_Discourage | 30 Sep '08, 17:51 | X | Reply

excellent!

good man, quite extraordinary musician, played with him in Istanbul years ago :) introduced me to a little piece of software called 'audiomulch'. Great guy!

djstoned | 30 Sep '08, 18:00 | X | Reply

Caribou are a brilliant live band

I've now seen them twice, but given the entrants for the Polaris Prize I would have voted for Black Mountain (sorry).

Kev's rating was wrong, and this was probably why Caribou had not caught my attention before Primavera. However, it took me 3 minutes of their live performance there though to be totally won over. They were also simply blindingly good at Green Man (they, Laura Marling and Black Mountain were my choice performances).

So I am happy with this, very happy. I hope Dan shares some of the winnings with his touring team.

Although Kev was wrong here, he is right on other bands, like These New Puritans and Banjo Or Freakout, so I forgive him.

UnrealCity | 30 Sep '08, 22:12 | X | Reply