Electronic-indie project Caribou is actually the stage name of Canadian-born musician Dan Snaith, who writes, performs, records and produces its music.

Snaith is assisted by three musicians for live performances. Caribou will hit the 40 Watt Club tonight.

“When I was a teenager, one of my friends introduced me to electronic music that was coming out of the UK at the time,” Snaith said.

What excited Snaith most was that “it was a really accessible way of recording,” he said.

“Instead of having to go into an expensive recording studio to make the record, you could make it using cheap home equipment.”

“It’s kind of why I started out recording electronically, and to a certain extent it’s why I’ve continued,” he added.

Before Caribou’s inception, Snaith gathered attention while recording under the name Manitoba. After an unfortunate lawsuit over the use of the name “Manitoba,” Snaith was forced to change his name to Caribou.

“The music hasn’t changed at all. I don’t think in terms of projects, only in terms of what music excites me at the time, so I need a name to release it under,” Snaith said.

Unlike the countless artists who shape their music to fit a certain style, Snaith’s approach to music is uncomplicated and open-minded.

“For me, making music has never been about being clever or using some kind of formula, but more about being hit on a gut, emotional level by hearing a melody or a sound,” he said.

Snaith’s unconventional attitude toward music is partially due to his small-town upbringing, he said.

“I grew up in a very isolated place,” Snaith said. “Before I could drive, I could barely even walk to the nearest house, let alone a record store or a show. So making music was never about being part of a scene in Canada or otherwise . It was just about whatever music I could get my hands on.”

Snaith said he is influenced by a range of genres outside electronica.

“I’m also digging through old jazz, psych-rock and prog-rock records … to use in samples,” he said.

Some of his other influences include Ariel Pink, the Zombies and Aaliyah. Caribou’s latest release, 2007′s “Andorra,” reveals Snaith’s expansive tastes and mainly features traditional instruments.

“The thing that definitely separated this album from my previous ones was that it was about composition, writing melodies and writing harmonies, whereas the previous albums were more about piling samples and loops on top of one another.”

Although Caribou’s studio efforts are the product of Snaith alone, its live shows are fueled by the full band.

“It’s important to me that the live shows are an equal-part collaborative process, rather than me just telling the other guys, ‘OK, you’ve gotta play this, and then you’ve gotta play that,’” Snaith said.