Honey

Caribou’s last album was like the ultimate career mashup—dance, indie, instrumental, heartbreak—you name it, he nailed it. It felt like this big, multi-layered statement, easily one of the best electronic records of the decade, maybe even the century. But Honey? That’s a different vibe. It's more of a low-key, club-ready release, like he’s just blowing off steam after the massive scope of Suddenly. It’s not trying to be some grand, genre-hopping masterpiece, and that’s totally fine. The AI vocal manipulation here isn’t super exciting, but it’s not the worst thing either.

Without getting too into each track, I’ll just point out the singles “Broke My Heart” and “Climbing.” They show Caribou’s talent for blending dance beats with that neurotic, detailed layering you usually hear in IDM. That’s one thing he kept from Suddenly—those little intricate tweaks to each loop that make even the tracks I’m not as hyped about still feel fresh.

This album’s definitely his most danceable one as Caribou. He usually saves the pure house stuff for his Daphni project, but I get why he dropped this under the Caribou name—it’s not as out there as his psych-pop work, but that influence is still there in the background. Just a super fun, catchy record that’s gonna stay in my rotation for a while.

Oh, and yeah, all the vocals are AI—basically it’s him singing, but the voice is altered. I’m generally against AI in art, especially when it comes to vocals because, let’s be real, it’s kinda theft. I’m not sure whose voices these models are based on, and if it’s legit or if he dodged paying real vocalists. Morally, it’s a gray area.

On the sound side, though, I didn’t hate it. You can still hear it’s Dan; once you know it’s him, it’s impossible not to recognize the way he says certain words. It’s more of a stylistic thing than him trying to hide or avoid paying people. I like the effect, but the ethics of it? Yeah, still pretty questionable.

CARIBOU - HONEY

RATING - 7.4/10

FAVORITE TRACK - Climbing

GENRE - Dance, Electronic