Swim is the fifth studio album by Canadian musician Dan Snaith, released under the moniker Caribou on April 20, 2010 by City Slang and Merge. It is his third album credited under Caribou and deviated from the psychedelic pop of his recent work and toward dance music. The album straddles between more cerebral electronic music and more danceable electronic music.[1]

Swim
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 20, 2010 (2010-04-20)
Studio
Genre
Length43:17
Label
ProducerDan Snaith
Caribou chronology
Andorra
(2007)
Swim
(2010)
Jiaolong
(2012)
Singles from Swim
  1. "Odessa"
    Released: January 25, 2010 (2010-01-25)

Swim continued the critical success set by Snaith and was critically acclaimed upon its release, later making several publications' year-end best album lists. It was recognized as one of "The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far" by Pitchfork in August 2014.[2]

Swim Remixes, a compilation of remixes from the album, was released in 2010 by Merge Records and features remixes by artists such as Junior Boys, Fuck Buttons, and Nite Jewel.

Background

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Swim was, according to Snaith, "pretty much me getting up every day and wanting to work on music. Working constantly on it. Making loads and loads and loads of music and then just sifting through to find the bits that I like".[3] Playing more DJ gigs, such as those at London's Plastic People, influenced the musician to embrace dance music and a greater range of frequencies in his music, which led to the formulation of Swim. Nevertheless, about 700 songs, some unfinished, did not make it onto the album.[4]

"Jamelia" features vocals by Luke Lalonde of Born Ruffians.[5]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.1/10[6]
Metacritic83/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [8]
The A.V. ClubA−[9]
The Daily Telegraph     [10]
The Guardian     [11]
Mojo     [12]
NME8/10[13]
Pitchfork8.4/10[14]
Q     [15]
Spin8/10[16]
Uncut     [17]

Swim received acclaim from critics, being assigned a Metascore of 83 by Metacritic. It was a shortlisted nominee for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize,[18] and was named the Best Album of 2010 by Resident Advisor.[19] The album also won the Juno Award in 2010 for Best Electronic Album of the Year and was awarded the second spot in Exclaim!'s 2010 Electronic Year in Review. Daniel Sylvester of Exclaim! praised the organic nature of the album, claiming "Caribou will be remembered for Swim."[20]

As of 2011, it has sold 33,803 copies in US.[21] As of 2015 it has sold 175,000 copies worldwide according to Independent Music Companies Association.[22]

Publications ranking Swim on their end-of-year lists included:

The first track on the album, "Odessa", was featured in a commercial for the automobile manufacturer Acura, the football video game by EA Sports, FIFA 11, as well as in a 2011 Lexus CT 200h commercial, and a 2012 Tissot commercial for watches.[23]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Dan Snaith

No.TitleLength
1."Odessa"5:15
2."Sun"5:44
3."Kaili"4:41
4."Found Out"3:18
5."Bowls"6:20
6."Leave House"5:11
7."Hannibal"6:14
8."Lalibela"2:25
9."Jamelia"3:58
Total length:43:17

Charts

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Chart (2010) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[24] 94
French Albums (SNEP)[25] 177
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 54
US Billboard 200[27] 97
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[28] 14
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[29] 18
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[30] 31

References

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  1. ^ Dwek, Joel (5 February 2022). "CANADA: Swim - Caribou". 200worldalbums.com. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  2. ^ "The Top 100 albums of 2010-2014". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  3. ^ Malitz, David (7 May 2010). "Dan Snaith of Caribou brings energy to music and mathematics". The Washington Post.
  4. ^ "Caribou's Dan Snaith aims to ignite the dancefloor".
  5. ^ "Caribou - Swim". City Slang. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  6. ^ "Swim by Caribou reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  7. ^ "Reviews for Swim by Caribou". Metacritic. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  8. ^ Sendra, Tim. "Swim – Caribou". AllMusic. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  9. ^ Kornhaber, Spencer (August 5, 2011). "Caribou: Swim". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  10. ^ Burrows, Tim (16 April 2010). "Caribou, Swim, CD review". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  11. ^ Costa, Maddy (15 April 2010). "Caribou: Swim". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  12. ^ "Caribou: Swim". Mojo (198): 96. May 2010.
  13. ^ Denney, Alex (April 16, 2010). "Album Review: Caribou – 'Swim' (City Slang)". NME. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  14. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (April 20, 2010). "Caribou: Swim". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  15. ^ "Caribou: Swim". Q (286): 120. May 2010.
  16. ^ Boylan, J. Gabriel (April 12, 2010). "Caribou, 'Swim' (Merge)". Spin. Archived from the original on January 25, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  17. ^ "Caribou: Swim". Uncut (156): 85. May 2010.
  18. ^ Thompson, Ciaran (20 September 2010). "Karkwa win 2010 Polaris Music Prize". Aux. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
  19. ^ Top 20 Albums of 2010 [1] - 15 Dec 2010
  20. ^ Daniel Sylvester [Exclaim! 2010 Electronic Year in Review [2]
  21. ^ "Data". marathonpacks.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  22. ^ "City Slang's CARIBOU pockets IMPALA European Album of the Year Award | Impala". www.impalamusic.org. Archived from the original on 2015-02-26.
  23. ^ "- YouTube". YouTube.
  24. ^ "Ultratop.be – Caribou – Swim" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  25. ^ "Lescharts.com – Caribou – Swim". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  26. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  27. ^ "Caribou Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  28. ^ "Caribou Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  29. ^ "Caribou Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  30. ^ "Caribou Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
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