Honey

by Caribou

very complicated feelings for this. first off I think we can put to rest the theory that AI tools were going to be great 'equalizers' and allow anybody to make great art or whatever. In reality something like this is probably the most practical use case, somebody who's already great at doing their thing using AI to get that extra 10% or to automate the more tedious parts of the work, or even somebody who's already established enough that their use of the tools can be seen as a broader artistic gesture.

Also more personally since I like a lot of more abstract music I have long held the (maybe controversial) opinion that people care too much about the identity… More

Why this wasn't a Daphni album is beyond me. It will serve as an outlier in their discography, which is totally fine if they made it cohesive like a Caribou record. Dan definitely knows how to make a club hit, but it feels as if the artistry was sacrificed to some extent. The result: a mixed bag. I understand that Kieran Hebden did the arrangements and mastering, which has led to some absolute bangers littered across the record (shoutouts to "Honey", "Volume", "Dear Life", "Campfire" and "Got To Change"). Perhaps this is an attempt to unify a vastly expanding music scene (listen to Floating Points most recent release for another example) and provide an introduction to Caribou to a wider… More

Major letdown. I don't take nearly as much issue as others have been with the use of AI vocals (you can tell it's still Dan underneath the effects), nor do I care about the merging of Caribou and Daphni in terms of vibe. The real issue to me is the lack of identity the second half of record brings, and how uninspired it all feels. It really misses the mark, and is such a bummer after a string of strong singles.

Clubby as fuck which isn't my favorite side of Caribou but it's still Caribou so I'm going to enjoy it on some level (see also: Andrew Broder).

The AI voice thing has me torn - when Holly Herndon did it back in 2019 on PROTO, it was done with an artistic vision in mind. But now when we're in an era of AI becoming synonymous with cheaply made, copyright violating shovelware that is very clearly a way for VC-types to bypass paying actual creators to actually create by stealing their work and training "robots" to "make" music or illustrations or movies for them, it's tough to be on board with any sort of AI inclusion in any sort of art… More