Dan Snaith

Daniel Victor Snaith (born 29 March 1978) is a Canadian composer, musician, and recording artist. He has released 10 studio albums since 2000 and has recorded and performed under the stage names Caribou, Manitoba, and Daphni.

Dan Snaith
Snaith in 2005
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Victor Snaith
Also known as	Manitoba Caribou Daphni
Born	(1978-03-29) 29 March 1978 (age 45)
Origin	Dundas, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Indietronica house folktronica neo-psychedelia dream pop
Occupation(s)	Musician music producer
Instrument(s)	Synthesizer drums guitar bass
Labels	City Slang Merge Leaf Domino
Website	caribou.fm

Career

Snaith originally recorded under the stage name Manitoba; however, after being threatened with a lawsuit by Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba in 2004, Snaith changed his performance name to Caribou. Snaith's previous full-length albums were then re-released under the new moniker.

When playing gigs as Caribou, Snaith performs with a live band. Currently,^[when?] the live band consists of Snaith, Ryan Smith, Brad Weber, and John Schmersal. Caribou have toured worldwide since the early 2000s. The band has performed at festivals including Coachella, Glastonbury, Primavera Sound, Field Day, Bonnaroo, All Points East, Reading and Leeds, Parklife, Osheaga, amongst many others. In 2012, Caribou supported Radiohead on their ‘King of Limbs’ tour. When performing as Daphni, Snaith performs as a DJ. "I'm not the type of person who takes physical things apart and plays around with them, but I like taking mental ideas apart and playing around with them. That's what appeals to me about what I've spent my life doing", said Snaith in an interview. ^[1]

Caribou's 2007 album Andorra won the 2008 Polaris Music Prize,^[2] and his subsequent Caribou albums Swim (2010), Our Love (2014) and Suddenly (2020) have appeared on the Polaris Music Prize shortlist.

In 2011, looking for an outlet for more dancefloor influenced output, began releasing music under the name Daphni. He has released three studio albums under this alias - Jiaolong (2012), Joli Mai (2017) and Cherry (2022).

In December 2011, Caribou curated the All Tomorrow's Parties "Nightmare Before Christmas" festival in Minehead, England, alongside co-curators Battles and Les Savy Fav.^[3]

Caribou was awarded Essential Mix of the Year in 2014 by Mixmag for his "Essential Mix" on 18 October 2014.^[4]

Caribou's 2014 album Our Love received the IMPALA Album of the Year Award.

In 2015, Caribou’s album Our Love was nominated for a Grammy for ‘Best Electronic/Dance Album’ and in 2021 Caribou’s single ‘You Can Do it' was nominated for the Grammy for ‘Best Dance Recording’.

In 2011, 2015 and 2021, Caribou’s albums Swim, Our Love and Suddenly won the Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year.

In 2021, he also received the Libera Awards as Best Dance/Electric Record 2021 for his album Suddenly (Merge Records) by the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM).^[5]

Personal life

In 2005, Snaith received a PhD degree in mathematics from Imperial College London, for work on Overconvergent Siegel Modular Symbols under Kevin Buzzard.^[6] Snaith described his work ironically in a modest manner as "original, but I would still call it trivial."^[7] He is the son of mathematician Victor Snaith [de] and brother of mathematician Nina Snaith.

Discography

Studio albums

as Manitoba

• Start Breaking My Heart (2001)
• Up in Flames (2003)

as Caribou

• The Milk of Human Kindness (2005)
• Andorra (2007)
• Swim (2010)
• Our Love (2014)
• Suddenly (2020)

as Daphni

• Jiaolong (2012)
• FabricLive.93 (2017)
• Joli Mai (2017)
• Cherry (2022)

EPs

as Manitoba

• People Eating Fruit EP (30 October 2000)
• give'r EP (26 November 2001)
• If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be an Airport 12" (13 January 2003)

Most of Snaith's older Manitoba material has been subsequently rereleased under the Caribou name.

as Caribou

• Tour CD 2005 (2005) Super Furry Animals Tour
• Marino EP (2005)
• Tour CD 2007 (2007)
• Tour CD 2010 (2010)
• Caribou Vibration Ensemble (2010, ATP) Live album featuring Marshall Allen. Caribou 'side project'.
• CVE Live 2011 EP (2014) Caribou Vibration Ensemble. Caribou 'side project'.

as Daphni

• Resident Advisor, February 2011 (5 tracks of episode #246)^[8][9]
• Daphni Edits Vol. 1, 12" [Resista], March 2011
• Pinnacles / Ye Ye, 12" split with Four Tet [Text], March 2011
• Daphni Edits Vol. 2, 12" [Resista], August 2011
• JIAOLONG001, 12" [Jiaolong], October 2011
• Ahora, 12" [Amazing Sounds], November 2011
• Julia / Tiberius, 12" featuring Owen Pallett [Jiaolong], April 2014
• Sizzling EP, June, 2019

Singles

as Manitoba

• "Paul's Birthday" CDS (26 February 2001)
• "Jacknuggeted" CDS (24 February 2003)
• "Hendrix with Ko" CDS (14 July 2003)

as Caribou

• "Yeti" CDS/12" (22 March 2005)
• "Barnowl" (2005)
• "Melody Day" CDS (August 2007)
• "She's the One" (March 2008)
• "Eli" (2008)
• "Odessa" (24 April 2010)
• "Leave House" (2010)
• "Bowls" (19 July 2010)
• "Can't Do Without You" (15 July 2014)
• "Our Love" (September 2014)
• "Your Love Will Set You Free" (2014)
• "All I Ever Need" (2014)
• "Mars" (2015)
• "Home" (2019)^[10]
• "You and I" (2020)
• "Never Come Back" (2020)^[11]
• “You Can Do It” (August 2021)

as Daphni

• "Sizzling" (2019)
• "Cherry" (2022)
• "Cloudy" (2022)
• "Clavicle" (2022)
• "Mania" (2022)

Music Videos

as Caribou

• Marino: The Videos DVD (2005) 16 videos for 'Up In Flames' (8), and 'Milk Of Human Kindness' (8), and 'The Milk Of Human Kindness (Story Edit)' featurette.
• Can't Do Without You - 2014
• Sun - 2010
• Odessa - 2010
• You Can Do It - 2021

Awards and recognition

• 2010 Polaris Music Prize – short list (Swim)^[12]
• 2011 Juno Awards – winner, Electronic Album of the Year (Swim)^[13]
• 2015 IMPALA Album of the Year Award (Our Love)^[14]
• 2015 Polaris Music Prize – short list (Our Love)^[15]

See also

•  Music portal
•  Canada portal

• Canadian rock
• List of Canadian musicians

References

1. Interview with Caribou, David Shankbone, Wikinews, 6 November 2007
2. "Music - HuffPost Canada". HuffPost Canada. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
3. "ATP Nightmare Before Christmas - Thank You! - All Tomorrow's Parties". All Tomorrow's Parties. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
4. Swift, Patrick (22 December 2014), , Mixmag, archived from the original on 22 December 2014, retrieved 22 December 2014
5. "A2IM Libera Awards 2021 winners". liberaawards.com. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
6. Daniel Snaith. "Overconvergent Siegel Modular Symbols" (PDF). 2.imperial.acuk. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
7. "More Madness Than Method: Dan Snaith on the poetics of a blank slate – Telekom Electronic Beats". Electronicbeats.net. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
8. Benson, Denise (3 March 2011). "Caribou's Dan Snaith reveals new project, Daphni". Eye Weekly. Retrieved 19 May 2011.^{[permanent dead link]}
9. Hughes, Josiah (15 February 2011). "Caribou's Dan Snaith Introduces New Daphni Project". Exclaim!. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
10. "Home – Single by Caribou". Apple Music. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
11. "Caribou plots his escape on new song "Never Come Back": Stream". 28 January 2020.
12. . Archived from the original on 22 January 2012.
13. Doole, Kerry (27 March 2011). "Neil Young, Arcade Fire, Shad Take Home Early Junos". Exclaim!. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
14. . Impalamusic.org. 12 February 2015. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
15. "Our Love - Polaris Music Prize". Polarismusicprize.ca=. Retrieved 8 January 2018.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Caribou (musician).

• Official website  
• Caribou on The Leaf Label
• Caribou discography at MusicBrainz
• Caribou at AllMusic