Caribou - Never Come Back (Floating Points Remix) / Sister (Floating Points Remix) (12")

Caribou’s Suddenly era was already generous with dance floor moments, but this 12-inch pairing from City Slang and Merge is the pick of the bunch. Never Come Back (Floating Points Remix) / Sister (Floating Points Remix) brings together two reworks from Sam Shepherd that feel surgical and soulful at the same time, and they land with a precision that club DJs crave. Released in the wake of Suddenly, it distils Dan Snaith’s melodies into long-form excursions that reward patience and volume. If you’re the sort who browses a Melbourne record store on a Saturday and gravitates to the staff picks wall, this is exactly that sort of record.

Never Come Back was the pop-leaning breakout of Suddenly, a sprint of a tune with a hook that lodged in your head after one play. Shepherd stretches it into a sleek, aerodynamic ride. The vocal becomes texture, rising and fading like vapour over a grid of crisp percussion and a bassline that hugs the kick just right. He lets the synth arpeggios breathe, opens the filter inch by inch, and keeps a tight leash on the dynamics until the delay trails bloom. It is restrained, then euphoric, then restrained again, the kind of arrangement that lets you mix for minutes without losing the thread. If you know Floating Points from his marathon DJ sets or from the meticulous sound design on Crush, the attention to micro-movement here will feel familiar.

Sister is the deeper surprise. On the album it was a brief, reflective piece, almost a palate cleanser. Here it becomes a proper journey. Shepherd teases out a patient pulse, nudging the harmony forward with glassy keys and tiny percussive flickers, then folds Snaith’s vocal into the fabric so it floats rather than leads. Little polyrhythmic details tug against the drum pattern. The tension builds without obvious drops. When the low end finally swells, it lands with a calm certainty that makes you lean in closer. It is both bigger and more intimate than the original, a neat trick that speaks to how well these two artists understand space.

Part of the thrill is hearing how generously Shepherd treats Snaith’s source material. Caribou’s writing is warm and human, even at its most synthetic, and these mixes keep that warmth while adding club heft. They also sit nicely alongside other Suddenly-era offshoots. Four Tet’s take on Never Come Back took the tune toward ecstatic house, bright and skippy. Floating Points opts for something cooler and more tensile, a late-night glide that would have killed at 3 am when the rooms were full again. No surprise that outlets like Pitchfork and NME jumped on these when they dropped, since they captured both artists in conversation at the height of their powers.

As an object, this is a satisfying slice of wax. The sequencing is simple and functional, one cut per side, both with generous run-ins for clean cueing. Pressed well and cut loud, it does exactly what a DJ tool should do, which is slot into the bag and earn its keep. If you collect Caribou vinyl, it bridges the gap between the album and the Suddenly Remixes set without doubling up on the obvious choices. If you collect Floating Points, it sits neatly next to his solo singles and shows his remix ear in peak form.

For those hunting copies, the Never Come Back (Floating Points Remix) / Sister (Floating Points Remix) vinyl turns up in the same shops that stock Caribou albums on vinyl, and it is the sort of release that disappears, then resurfaces in the arrivals bin with a few scuffs from honest play. If you need it quickly, most of the usual suspects will let you buy Caribou records online without drama. In vinyl records Australia circles it gets recommended often, partly because it works in a living room as well as on a system that can rattle windows.

Two tracks, no filler, plenty of mileage. The best remixes reveal new angles without sanding off the personality of the original. These do exactly that. If you care about how dance music feels on a good system, and if Caribou on wax has a home in your shelf already, you will want this one. And if you are just getting into Caribou vinyl and need a gateway into the clubbier end of his world, this is an easy, stylish step.