Daphni

As Daphni, Dan Snaith recaptures dance music’s elemental power with driving, hypnotic tracks distinctly different from his Caribou work. The raw edits, remixes, and singles that preceded 2012′s full-length debut Jiaolong reflected the project’s roots as propulsive additions to Snaith’s DJ sets, and tracks like “Yes, I Know” and “Ye Ye” remained dance floor staples years after their release. Daphni’s 2017 mix album Fabriclive 93 and second full-length Joli Mai (which featured the full tracks Snaith excerpted in his mix) complemented each other perfectly, reflecting his skills as a DJ and producer. On 2022′s Cherry, Snaith broadened Daphni’s horizons with hints of techno while remaining true to the project’s commitment to danceable grooves.
While in college, Snaith DJed his own parties, and became hooked on crafting sets that got dance floors moving. Though his reverence for club music and culture rubbed off on some of his Caribou work, his need to express that side of his music — and make tracks to play during his DJ sets –- led him to create Daphni. Snaith inaugurated the project with a 2010 Cortney Tidwell remix, while two volumes of edits for Resista and a split single with Four Tet appeared the following year. Two more 2011 singles, “JIAOLONG001” and Ahora, arrived before the October 2012 release of Daphni’s first full-length, Jiaolong. Acclaimed for its gritty return to dance music’s fundamentals, the album was longlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. Also in 2012, Daphni remixed Hot Chip’s “Night & Day.”
Snaith returned to Caribou with 2014′s acclaimed Our Love, but continued to work as Daphni, releasing the “Vikram” single in 2015. Daphni also contributed the Owen Pallett collaboration “Julia” to 2017′s Lives Through Magic, a benefit album for victims of the deadly 2016 fire at the Oakland, California warehouse venue Ghost Ship. That July, Daphni issued Fabriclive 93, a mix dominated by original tracks created for the album. Daphni’s second album, Joli Mai, which featured the full versions of those tracks, as well as the previously unreleased “Vulture,” arrived that October on Snaith’s Jiaolong label. For 2019′s Sizzling EP, Snaith delivered two reworkings of Paradise’s 1981 disco hit “Sizzlin’ Hot” and three original tracks. Following Caribou’s 2020 album Suddenly, Daphni returned in October 2022 with Cherry, which dipped into Detroit techno as well as the house and disco influences of the project’s earlier work. ~ Heather Phares