Under gorgeous clear skies, with the stars twinkling and a fresh coastal breeze keeping temperatures beautifully perfect, Caribou signed off on their Australian tour (aside from Dan Snaith's quartet of free DJ sets later this week on the east coast) with a magnificent live ensemble performance in Fremantle last night.
In the country to promote the group's 2024 album 'Honey', a large gathering congregated at Fremantle Arts Centre (7 January) to be treated to some of the most sublime, majestic and simply mind-blowing intelligent electronic music I've heard in some time.An immersive experience, first song 'Volume' (from 'Honey') declared: "I've always got to change/ pump up the volume," the sonic beats washing over the senses. . . like a musical rebirth for the new year. The journey into synth-heavy, pingy hi-hats, shimmering guitar riffs and luscious basslines created an exotic, almost alpine meets tropical landscape, punters heads nodding in unison.
Another 'Honey' track, 'Climbing' saw the visuals kick in strong, a warped, psychedelic spinning fractal sending us down a certain rabbit hole like Alice. Throughout the performance, the visuals continued to create spellbinding pleasure, like a fifth member was onstage contributing to the aural mastery with hypnotic, vivid optical illusions.
Image © The Matchstick
From there, the sonic voyage veered from electronic post-rock (like an EDM Mogwai to this reviewer's ear) to lush bedrocks of synth-heavy dance music, the mood created one of euphoria with swaying shoulders, bouncing heads and busy feet from the audience confirming Caribou's live act transfers beautifully from their recorded work.
Lifted from 2019's 'Swim' LP, red lava visuals accompanied 'Bowls', the intensity of the light beaming across the crowd intoxicating, the energy radiating before another 'Swim' cut, 'Odessa' somehow lifted the mood evening higher before they returned to 'Honey' with the magnificent piano-house jam 'Come Find Me'. There was even a synth-pad drum solo later in the set that was the equal of any rock & roll drummer, before the wobbly, chaotic high-hats generated a crowd clap-along.
Image © The Matchstick
After what seemed like time had being paused, suspended in an electronic reality of blissfulness, frontman Dan Snaith (who had kept crowd interaction to a minimum, allowing the music to do the speaking aside from a number of heartfelt acknowledgments to the audience, the crowd's response to their music clearly resonating heavily with all four members onstage) he announced we'd arrived at the set's final song, the ethereally beautiful 2015 banger 'Can't Do Without You'. It resulted in the biggest crowd animation of the evening, everyone in attendance greedy to savour their last taste of Caribou to the very final drop.
This was the first time Caribou had graced a WA stage since 2015, with Dan proclaiming that after a decade away, they'd be back a lot sooner next time; judging from the response of the audience they may well need a bigger venue to host what would be a super-appreciative crowd.
Speaking of the crowd, this Brisbane writer was once again impressed by the chilled nature of the people congregating at Fremantle Arts Centre; sure, it was a Tuesday evening with many in the audience most likely having just returned to work after the festive break, and still rubbing holiday sleep-dust out of their eyes, but the complete lack of dickhead behaviour was awesome to experience as a combination of indie kids, city professionals, couples and the odd smattering of ravers made the enjoyment of listening, feeling and immersing oneself in the hypnotic grooves of Caribou palpable.
Image © The Matchstick
Lastly, what an amazing outdoor venue. . . situated in the grounds of a heritage-listed building complex that was built using convict labour between 1861 and 1868, and operated as a psychiatric hospital, initially called the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum before being renamed the Asylum for the Criminally Insane, the history and culture permeates from the buildings. Simply put, the modern version is an exquisite venue, and should be on every music lovers' bucket list. I know I'll be coming back.
