Caribou - Melody Day (Four Tet Remix)

AUG 06 2007 · 12:00

Caribou - Melody Day (Four Tet Remix) (2007) Era: Mid-2000s Indie Electronic Psychedelia (2007) - A convergence of folktronica, psychedelic pop, and UK electronic music culture; the year of Caribou's Polaris Prize-nominated album Andorra and a peak moment for cross-Atlantic indie-electronic collaboration High curatorial value as a documented artifact of the mid-2000s indie-electronic moment that bridged British folktronica (Four Tet / Kieran Hebden) and Canadian psychedelic pop (Caribou / Dan Snaith). The video's extreme formal restraint, zero cuts, near-zero motion, single continuous frame, makes it a strong specimen for studying minimal production aesthetics in independent music video culture. Its long tail across DJ mix compilations through 2017 further elevates its archival significance beyond its release year. Context: Released in July 2007 alongside Caribou's fourth studio album Andorra, a record that would go on to win the 2008 Polaris Music Prize, the Four Tet Remix of Melody Day crystallised a fertile mid-2000s moment of cross-pollination between Canadian psychedelic indie and the UK's experimental electronic underground. Four Tet (Kieran Hebden), already acclaimed for albums like Rounds (2003) and Everything Ecstatic (2005), brought his signature organic-electronic texturalism to Caribou's '60s-inflected pop songwriting. The collaboration also connected two artists closely associated with the Domino / City Slang constellation of labels. The visual presentation, near-static, muted, amber-toned, mirrors the introspective and meditative qualities of the remix itself, positioning the video squarely within an era of lo-fi, art-forward clip-making favoured by independent labels reluctant to invest in high-budget production. Director notes: No director credit for the Melody Day (Four Tet Remix) music video was found in any searched source. The original Melody Day video (non-remix) was described in a 2007 ZME Music article as featuring a figure in an arid desert terrain, but no director was named and it is unclear whether this description applies to the remix video. The remix single was released July 17, 2007 on City Slang. Remix and additional production credited to Four Tet (Kieran Hebden).