Dan Snaith
's recordings as
Manitoba
exuded a flair for recycling the most enthusiastic of early-'90s
indie rock
within the context of a one-man production band. Slightly naive and only a passable songwriter, he nevertheless compensated with his gushing productions and the sort of breathless vocals that only a newcomer can imbue with such pleasure. After dealing with a slight setback (
Handsome Dick Manitoba
's baffling appropriation of the name, which led to
Snaith
's subsequent rebirth as
Caribou
), he proves on
The Milk of Human Kindness
that his compositional powers have grown during his five years on the scene. (The seven-minute
"A Final Warning,"
with its smooth, ebb-and-flow glissandos, is easily his most accomplished production yet.) Unfortunately, although
may sound novel expanding upon his indie forebears of ten years ago, when he begins conjuring the ghosts of
Krautrock
(
"Bees"
) or
trip-hop
"Lord Leopard"
), as he does here, he's entering the company of talented producers who have ploughed the same ground (
Stereolab
and
DJ Shadow
, most obviously). The opener and first single,
"Yeti,"
is one of the prime disappointments, a one-note rocker that attempts to strike the same chord as
's previous classic
"Hendrix With Ko"
with nothing like the same results. Similar however, to what happened on
Up in Flames
(his final
record), dedicated listeners will find excellent material on the second half of the record. As
straightforwardly hums his choruses on the minimalist
folk
of
"Hello Hammerheads,"
or conjures
Robert Wyatt
with the eccentric, driving
pop
"Brahminy Kite,"
he shows that he still has plenty of room to roam to be bothered messing around with second-rate imitations of long-dead styles. ~ John Bush