June 2013
Recorded 2005–2012
Ambient, downtempo
Label Warp
Producer: Marcus Eoin, Mike Sandison
Fucking finally after almost 8 years since their last studio album Trans Canada Highway in 2006
Boards of Canada comes though with a new classic.
I have to admit I was pretty underwhelmed first listen
Probably because it didn't sound like I was hoping or expecting
(Geogaddi 2 you could say).
you must remember BoC albums are always growers.
First time I heard Geogaddi I didn't really think much of it.
Came back to it a little while later and it was all of a sudden incredible.
Tomorrow's Harvest was good from the get go for me, but the subsequent listens made the attention to detail come out and now I can't help but be impressed by the thing.
For example the track Nothing Is Real.
Its fucking great how they cut the strings off at strange moments and play with the sound of them with reverbs and stretches.
dem subtle bird/marine sounds from the string part>>
And amazing voice processing.
The album is the darkest one they’ve made for sure, it demands to be listened to all at once.
As the second track, Reach For The Dead, begins, you can imagine the picture above being the exact landscape.
While parts of the album keep that signature Boards of Canada vibe, Tomorrow’s Harvest oozes a distinct sound from the rest of their discography.
There’s less focus on huge, thudding beats and more on drum work.
The music compared to their earlier work, is cold and lonely like Telephasic Workshop and Roygbiv but while adding alotmore complexity. There are tons of little noises and samples and beats worked into these tracks, not in a overwhelming way, but in a way that rewards close listening. As a result, Tomorrow’s Harvest, like many rewarding albums, can definitely be a bitch to get into.
That’s not say that there aren’t individual tracks to enjoy either.
Beginning with what can only be described as dat head banger, Palace Posy an excellent song, that takes a turn with the introduction of some ghost like synths creating the kind of dred sound heard over much of the album.
Truth as a whole, Tomorrow’s Harvest is a step forward for the brothers skill at producing atmospheric electronic music.
This is driving and thinking blazed oucho mind music
On first listen it might be easy to think that Boards of Canada might have lost their sound from previous work, but really taking the album in reveals it to be an achievement in mood and atmosphere music.
It's not quit that amazing album that blows me away yet, it's a little too subdued for that, but it's a good, solid slice of BoC and no doubt over time will become a favourite of mine in their catalog.
3 slight Brian Enos out of 5
