Product Description

Reclusive cult Scottish IDM stars return with their third album and follow-up to 2002's 'Geogaddi'. Immersing themselves even further in the retro influences of psychedelic folk and shoegazing rock which so inform their work, they have made a largely organic album, using samples of acoustic instruments and twisting them into unconventional arrangements. Theresult reflects the bleak beauty and wild strangeness of their highland home.

Track Listing

1. Into The Rainbow Vein
2. Chromakey Dreamcoat
3. Satellite Anthem Icarus
4. Peacock Tail
5. Dayvan Cowboy
6. Moment Of Clarity
7. '84 Pontiac Dream
8. Sherbert Head
9. Oscar See Through Red Eye
10. Ataronchronon
11. Hey Saturday Sun
12. Constants Are Changing
13. Slow This Bird Down
14. Tears From The Compound Eye
15. Farewell Fire

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5209 in Music
• Released on: 2005-10-17
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
People get excited about the prospect of a new Boards Of Canada album, and The Campfire Headphase again confirms exactly why. Coming just two years after Geogaddi--a blink of an eye, in Boards terms--this, the Scots duo’s third full length LP unfurls 15 tracks of languid, warm, but strangely absorbing soundscapes of eddying beats and trilling synth.

Lighter in tone than Geogaddi, the likes of "Satellite Anthem Icarus" replace Boards’ eerie undercurrents with a brighter, more optimistic moods. New too is the presence of guitar, albeit often of the heavily-treated variety: "Constants Are Changing" hides ringing acoustic chords in a whirlpool of woozy keyboard wash, while "Hey Saturday Sun" loops a strange, cyclical melody that’s nicely complemented by some thrumming synthetic bass lines. Mind you, the album stand-outs hail from a firmly electronic base--see "Oscar See Through Red Eye", which emerges from an ambient cocoon and gradually evolves into a distant cousin of acid house, dry handclaps and psychedelic digital blips dotted in the warm sonic mulch. Perhaps there’s not enough fresh here to confirm Boards Of Canada as cutting-edge sonic trailblazers, but as ever, their familiarity remains a strong part of their appeal, and The Campfire Headphase confirms that their quality threshold remains way up there.--Louis Pattison

From the Label
The Campfire Headphase has already achieved critical acclaim to rival its predecessors. What defines this album from previous work is Boards’ desire to simply make a melodic, beautiful record. Playing out like a road movie, The Campfire Headphase is a dense and intricate collection of music, immersing the listener in kaleidoscopic swathes of spacious live instrumentation and trademark isolated chords of sound. Here, Boards have experimented with unfiltered analogue tones from a diverse range of instruments, all of which they played themselves.

Customer Reviews

A worthwhile exploration
As someone brand new to Boards of Canada I graduated to this from 'Music Has The Right To Children', having purchased both at the same time, so intially was almost intimidated by the markedly different sounds on openers 'Into the Rainbow Vein' and 'Chromakey Dreamcoat', with their guitar basis.

On first listen only really the mighty 'Davyan Cowboy' struck home, but whilst it remains the strongest track on here, others such as 'Oscar See Through Red Eye' and 'A Moment of Clarity' gradually unveil their charms on further listening, sufficiently so to keep you hooks right through to the poignant double finale of 'Tears From the Compound Eye' and 'Farewell Fire'.

Clearly this is not a band interested in rehashing the same album or even same sounds from one release to the next, and I certainly look forward to continuing into their catalogue.

Brave but falls short
I've given this 3 stars out of respect for all musicians who are brave enough to think outside the box and try something a bit different. Each to their own, but I also can't get my head round the number of 5 star reviews. I grade music on the basis of how it moves me. Does it lift me out of my favourite armchair and take me to another place? I'm happy to let any type of music do the job. Faust, Can, Tangerine Dream, Radiohead, Lambchop all provide me with the vehicle to leave my wife and kids for a while and return a hour or so later, refreshed and ready to do the washing up. I've not heard anything else by Boards Of Canada but 'The Campfire Headphase' sounds like a new band who have just got together and aren't sure where they're going. They need some guidence. A first rate producer would help and someone who can work with them to mix their interesting, but uninspiring music. Some music needs that magic touch from someone who understands how to produce and mix, so as to get the best from it. Nirvana's 'Nevermind' being a classic example in my opinion.

Great
These geniai are of very few artists who leave me begging for more and eagerly anticipating new material. Wish they'd hurry up and do more stuff but that's the genius at work i guess, can't rush these things. This album doesn't dissappoint as i thought it might when i heard they were changing direction a little (use of stings/rock sound). I was a little sceptical that the true BOC sound would permeate but it did and i'm sorry for ever having doubted them. I've got everything else they're done and i wouldn't say they improve everytime but this is worth just as much of your time as all the others they have done. Love it!