LogFAQs > #954738445

188. Caribou Cant Do Without You (2014)
from the album Our Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI2Et19vDCM

Key lyrics:
Cant do without
Cant do without
Cant do without-

House music has a habit of building entire tracks around short phrases repeated ad infinitum. Cant Do Without You oscillates between two phrases, one shifted to a low pitch, the other in Caribous distinct falsetto. The deeper vocals drop the subject and object from I cant do without you, a simple change which modifies the focus. With the shorter phrase and desperate vocals, Caribou is fixated on how loss would affect him personally the full phrase shifts attention to the relationship. The song ends with Caribou breaking free from the repetition, finally finding the words to express himself.

In house music, getting the right phrase mainly serves an ambient purpose the vocals might as well be just another instrument. Here, the warring delivery serves as a backbone. The opening is sparse, more attention on the vocals than the instrumentation. As Caribou nears the end of the first falsetto section, the instrumentation roars to the surface, only growing louder and more chaotic with each shift. What started simple and clean becomes a wall of noise as Caribou loses himself in the emotion. Everything settles down once Caribou breaks the repetitive cycle. With little more than a stock phrase, Caribou crafted a marvelous ode to the self-inflicted torment of imagining a loved one leaving.

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