Boards Of Canada - Geogaddi (CD 2002)

The evolution in Boards of Canada’s sound from the sparse beats of 1995’s ‘Twoism’ reaches its crowning glory in the magnificent ‘Geogaddi’. This is an incredibly rich, multi-layered and multi-faceted listening experience.

Boards use analog synths, layered beats and a multitude of vocal samples from sources as diverse as cinema, public information videos and National Geographic films to create a record steeped in atmosphere and nostalgia. In places it recalls a 1970s childhood yet it is far from all sweetness and light as there is a strong thread of darkness and eeriness running through the whole album. Don’t be put off though, ‘Geogaddi’ is an accessible, melodic and thoroughly enjoyable listen.

‘Geogaddi’ is just over an hour long and runs almost as a seamless whole. The whole record is brilliant but from the shimmering waves of synth that introduce ‘The Beach at Redpoint’ onwards the music is of stellar quality. ‘Over the Horizon Radar’ is achingly beautiful in its simplicity and ‘You Could Feel The Sky’ must be one of the duo’s best tracks ever: its unearthly waves of sound create a superbly melody over steady beats whilst synth washes, whispered vocal samples and odd whistles and noises come and go in the mix. This one track is a brilliant summary of all that Boards of Canada do so extraordinarily well.

I could go on all day about how good this record is, but to put it in a personal context ‘Geogaddi’ was my first foray into electronica after many years of enjoying indie/alt rock music. I have since bought all of Boards’s other work and have enjoyed music by Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Plaid, Four Tet, Autechre and others but nothing I have heard surpasses this album. If you are a rock fan looking for something new I cannot recommend ‘Geogaddi’ highly enough; in fact every self-respecting music lover should hear it. A five-star record in a four-star world!