Just shy of thirty years after their explosive debut album’s release, Boards of Canada are back, and their new album Inferno proves to the world that age is just a number. Inferno moves from funny to innovative to dancy and back again, with the fluidity of a fish in water. It evokes everything from Badalamenti to the Tom Tom Club. If you liked Boards of Canada in the nineties and the naughties and the teens, you’ll like them in the twenties. Trying to remain relevant is a mountain many artists struggle to climb, and it is particularly difficult in the realm of electronica, with technology advancing quicker than I can invent metaphors.
One year after their EDM contemporaries Daft Punk released their debut album, Boards of Canada released Music Has the Right to Children, the 1998 classic. Tracks from that record are fantastically nostalgic – Music is Math brings you back to the late nineties/early naughties, you’re listening on a Walkman and Blade is in the cinemas. While perhaps never reaching quite the same level of superstardom as Daft Punk, Boards of Canada are rightly regarded as legends in the electronic music scene. They pioneered a genre – somewhat pretentiously named – IDM (Intelligent Dance Music, for the uninitiated). The two siblings that make up the band are often compared with British musician Aphex Twin, and fellow brothers Orbital. They’ve got something quite Brian Eno or Four Tet to them, in their previous work and in Inferno. Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin were brought up in between Scotland and Canada, and studied music and AI, respectively. Their university subject choices are reflected in their sound, particularly so in Inferno, which is experimental while still being very listenable. They became household names in the 90s electronic genre, and Inferno shows that they are continuing to push the boundaries of IDM today.
Inferno is made up of 18 tracks, and continues in the vein Boards of Canada have become famous for. While obviously an evolution of their 1998 music, their iconic sound still remains, and for fans of the band this will be a welcome addition to their oeuvre. Age of Capricorn is just one of several tracks that introduces lyrics, a slight diversion to their usual vocal-less songs, but it works well generally. Father and Son is similarly lyrical but introduces some comedic phrases into the track, something that would seem impossible listening to Geogaddi, Boards of Canada’s sombre, almost satanic sophomore album. Naraka is fun and far reaching and interesting, and contrasts from the next track Acts of Magic well, which is more of a return to their earlier sound – in fact it would have fit nicely into Geogaddi. All Reason Departs is terrifying and thought provoking and fantastic.
Inferno takes the listener on a journey. The album rises to crescendo with tracks like Into The Magic Land or Arena Americanada, and drops the listener off again at the end with the ethereal I Saw Through Platonia. It is something increasingly rare in music today, where people are more used to sticking an – often AI generated – playlist on shuffle, to have a structured, curated concept album like Inferno. There is something quite Pink Floyd about it.
Inferno is a double LP, which will be available on vinyl for those on the ones and twos, as well as on CD for those stuck in 2006, as well as on regular streaming platforms. Inferno is great. More than that it is a message to the world from Boards of Canada, that they aren’t done yet. They have successfully meandered the river and climbed the mountain of keeping up with technology as they get older. Boards of Canada have withstood the tide of time.
Inferno will be released via Warp Records on 29th May 2026
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