Caribou is essentially one man, Dan Snaith, and his box of tricks. Andorra is the fourth Caribou album, and the first for cult American indie label City Slang. A few years in the making, Andorra sees the Caribou gift extended and amplified, to make an album of rare sonic quality. This is the most modern 1960s album you'll hear in a long while, all Beach Boys meets psychedelic Beatles - maybe there's some Pink Floyd and some new-indie in there too.

The use of electronics leavens the organic songs - increasing texture and interest: the melodies infuse the songs with golden sunshine, and ecstatic blissful energy (you'll never need another Polyphonic Spree album). Andorra is an overwhelmingly pretty album (at least until the closer, an 8 minute trance-like nod to the electronic 80s) - and it is easy to see fans of bands as disparate as Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, Stone Roses, Battles, Aqualung and later Radiohead finding this excellent disc well worth the effort to seek it out.

4/5

Mike Rea