Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase
Oct 21, 00:04 by Stefan KoopmanschapThose who know me, know that I am addicted to Boards of Canada. So when I found out that their new album was available on Bleep.com, I immediately headed over to buy the digital version. I’ll get the CD later on, I’m sure. It confirmed that the mp3’s I had obtained earlier on were indeed the real thing, so I had already been listening to the new album for a while.
And good enough to form a nice opinion on the music. Great music if you ask me. Boards of Canada have definitely taken a slightly new approach to the music. Though the music still contains that typical Boards of Canada feel, this album is much more accessible, less abstract, or at least that is my feeling towards this album. The use of guitars came as a surprise, but it fits well with the overall sound of the album.
With The Campfire Headphase, a new solid album is brought to our ears, making Geogaddi stand out in between as being more fragile sounding. Though since first hearing it, I’ve fallen in love with the fragile sound of Geogaddi, I still have a preference for the more solid sound that Music Had The Right To Children had, and that The Campfire Headphase luckily brings back into their music. It is however out of place to really compare Music Has The Right To Children with this new offering from the Scottish duo.
I’ve seen various people critisizing this album for containing little innovation, little difference from previous offerings, or even from being too bland, too poppy. I do not agree with this. Yes, it does have a similar sound to other albums, but that is not really a surprise since that is the whole ‘Boards of Canada sound’, the thing that makes their music so damn addictive. I do agree that the album has a slightly more poppy sound, among other things this is the influence of the use of guitars I think. Which is, for Boards of Canada, something new and innovative. So just that thing that makes it new, is the thing that people don’t seem to like. So instead of being innovative, Boards of Canada should do the same thing they’ve done before on several occasions? That’s quite a conservative opinion if you ask me.
I’ve listened to this album for quite a few times already and can’t seem to get bored by it. I long for more. I also get curious as to what the next album will bring. Aside from the guitars, maybe violins, bass guitar, harmonica? Or maybe even more unusual (for electronic music) instruments? Whatever they do decide to bring in the future, for now I’m quite content with what they’ve brought us this time round. It makes me happy, which is what Boards of Canada is supposed to do to me, what they’ve been doing since the first time I’ve ever heard something by Boards of Canada.
Released on Warp Records / Bleep
See also: Boards of Canada website