Their fifth studio album and their first in 13 years is due May 29th via Warp Records.
Boards of Canada – Inferno: A timeline of the enigmatic new album rollout
Boards Of Canada have released the first two songs from their forthcoming fifth album with ‘Introit’ and ‘Prophecy at 1420 Mhz’.
‘Introit’ is a very typical Boards Of Canada soft glow synth interlude that clocks in at 35 seconds before whirring into an ominous synth chord and discombobulating reverbed flutes and it segues into ‘Prophecy at 1420 Mhz’. A percussive beat and live-sounding drums builds the atmosphere into shoegazey guitar and bass that sounds like it’s opening a portal in hell with a big touchstone of John Carpenter ’80s horror soundtracks.
Speaking of ominous, a downright scary manipulated robotic devil voice is introduced and speaks about being god. It’s fairly terrifying and very exhilarating.
In a 1959 paper, Cornell University physicists Philip Morrison and Giuseppe Cocconi had speculated that any extraterrestrial civilisation attempting to communicate via radio signals might do so using a frequency of 1420 megahertz, which is naturally emitted by hydrogen, the most common element in the universe and therefore likely familiar to all technologically advanced civilisations.
The video is directed by Robert Beatty, the artist and designer behind some iconic psychedelic album covers from Tame Impala and more.
Boards Of Canada – Inferno Tracklist
- Introit
- Prophecy At 1420 MHz
- Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan
- Age Of Capricorn
- Father And Son
- Somewhere Right Now In The Future
- Naraka
- Acts Of Magic
- Memory Death
- The Word Becomes Flesh
- Into The Magic Land
- Blood In The Labyrinth
- Deep Time
- All Reason Departs
- Arena Americanada
- The Process
- You Retreat In Time And Space
- I Saw Through Platonia
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
