Boards Of Canada Tomorrow's Harvest

Eight years after The Campfire Headphase, Boards of Canada’s bucolic instincts give way to more ominous moods. Dirge-like electronic beats take the place of crunchy hip-hop breaks, and gravelly drones eclipse their customarily wide-eyed euphoria. The opening “Gemini” and “Reach for the Dead” set the tone with a one-two punch of vintage-synth gurgle and slowly churning counterpoints; both tracks are suffused in inconsolable melancholy. “Nothing Is Real”, though, carries a glimmering echo of their optimistic early tunes—and is all the more bittersweet for it.