Cool enough to claim living on a houseboat, but not cool enough not to, the beloved diffused-electro duo Boards of Canada don't really rock the boat, nor do they change positions. What they do do well is work the middle. Plugging away with their soft-hearted, softly lensed IDM, the duo of Marcus Eoin and Michael Sandison forsake fun and flourish to gently deepen a sought-after, sought-out mood. The mood's moody, too; pale blue and blue; hyaline hues running together as little glints of nostalgic hindsight reflect off them like kisses of light off the softest of shoreline waves. The fact that they make openly nostalgic, therefore emotional music has led to BOC's being somewhat overpraised, especially by Americans, given that the combo easily represent emotion in electronic music's big dust-free laboratory. But you can't fault Boards of Canada for continually pinning their hearts on their album sleeves; Geogaddi's cover depicts super-8 kids, spun in concentric hexagonal patterns by view-tube kaleidoscopes, coming infused by water-color memories and giving commands for writer's metaphors. But, this said, even if it wears its feelings on its clothing, Boards of Canada's manful emotivism is refreshingly non-pompous. On said album, their second full-length disc, the pair grow fond of the vocal snatch; dusty and crackly spoken musings on sea life and past times and the loves of little boys making their sentimental meditations even more easy to feel, emotions sewed in pink-stitch as part of the patchwork of patched-up jeans and days at the beach the pair paint on memory's canvas with their sweet melodies and fuzzed-out beats.
[Check out Neumu's other review of
Geogaddi..]
