How to deal with a slow burner..

It took me a long time to fall in love with Boards of Canada.  There were a variety of reasons: people mentioned them to me and I ignored it, I listened to a few things and it didn't immediately strike me as significant, and I had other - seemingly more engaging - Electronic music artists circling my world at the time.

Despite an absolute slew of tracks created since their inception in 1995, some singles and EPs going out, "Twoism" also being released in 1995 and "Music Has The Right To Children" in 1998, they totally passed me by during my university years and it wasn't probably until 2001/2 that I had started hearing the name.

My first listening experience of BOC was 2002's "Geogaddi", which is arguably the group's most sedate, slow-burning effort.  This would probably adequately explain my initial ambivalence as the tracks on the album aren't very immediate in their construction, nor does the listening of it seem to follow an arc or tell a story.  BOC are adept at using little sound snippets to segue from one track to another, and generally employ a retro-synth aesthetic complete with distortion, minimal beats and vocal samples which create the soundscape.  At its leanest, its Ambient Techno but it can be meatier at times.

Standout tracks "Music Is Math", "Sunshine Recorder", "Julie and Candy", "1969", "The Beach At Redpoint" and "Dawn Chorus" are what prop this album's slightly flabby 23 track offering up.  I think as it is littered with too many segues/short tracks that is probably what works against it.  Nevertheless it piqued my interest enough to go and listen to "Twoism" and "MHTRTC", and find them very enjoyable indeed.

There is one significant reason why I love BOC and it all comes down to a single track from 2005's "The Campfire Headphase".  I am of course referring to "Dayvan Cowboy".

It basically rates as a near-perfect track in every way, and remains firmly in my top 3 Electronic tracks of all time.

Starting with a distorted guitar pluck, we then have a slow build of rhythm created by echoey synths and a tambourine combo, with swirling samples just allowing the track to ease itself into being.  It doesn't ostensibly go anywhere for the first 2 mins 5 seconds, then we get a beautiful strum of guitar reverberating across the track and the rhythm starts, bringing with it some wonderful but simple strings and drum beats.  The track then beautifully drifts along with its orchestral accompaniment and gives off the essence of what classical music would sound like in the future, in space. Each instrument is then carefully extracted as we get the guitar alone to fade out.

Perfection.

Other notables on this album are "Chromakey Dreamcoat", "Satellite Anthem Icarus", "Peacock Tail", "'84 Pontiac Dream", "Oscar See Through Red Eye", "Hey Saturday Sun", "Slow This Bird Down” and closer "Tears From The Compound Eye".  At 14 tracks there's way more good than average here and it really tipped the balance for me in terms of liking BOC beyond just being mildly interested and an occasional listener.  

HOWEVER, if I was introducing someone to BOC for the first time I personally would use the benefit of all the experience they have over 20 years and point people towards the epic 2013 offering "Tomorrow's Harvest".

For me personally if "Dayvan Cowboy" is their perfect track, then this is their perfect album.

It takes all of their learnings from previous works and knits it together with perfect timing, pace, balance, aesthetic beauty and - if this is even possible - a wider and more sprawling sound. 

I won't call out too many specific tracks here as they're all pretty much awesome, but from the synth fanfare intro and foreboding tones of "Gemini" to the breakbeats and yelps of "Cold Earth", to the mercurially crafted "Split Your Infinities" with its rolling synths, robotic sampling and scratchy retro sounds it all makes perfect sense for the listener.

"Nothing Is Real" is said robots talking to each other overlaid by a beautiful set of echoey glittering sounds, "Sundown" is an ambient representation of the sun setting which is plucked straight from the dystopian future of a Blade Runner scene, and "Come To Dust" is similar to an FSOL track in many ways, and could easily be confused for one.

It flows, it soars, it works.  I must have listened to this album whilst traveling to and from work in excess of 40 times in the last few years as it is so easy to get lost in its beauty.

I hope BOC continue to create amazing output that builds on the previous successes but also learns from it and pushes their own envelope somewhat and keeps them unique.

Badger x