Boards of Canada: Campfire Headphase (Album Review)
âCampfire Headphaseâ is an emotionally rich journey of an album. The tracks are thick with various sounds that sound strangely organic and nostalgic. I recommend this album if youâre searching for something calming to listen to whilst you do your homework or something... I dunno thatâs what I use this album for.
Eventually I will write about Boards of Canadaâs more recent album âTomorrows Harvestâ but today I got a $400 driving ticket and want to listen to one of my favourite albums âCampfire Headphaseâ. âBoards of Canadaâ is the stage name of the Scottish electronic duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin. Their music can be characterised as sound rich and highly organic. In a way their music is quite nostalgic in the sense that it feels like listening to the echoes of the past which is probably an odd thing to say but thatâs what I think. The style of music that âBoards of Canadaâ produces is kind of hard to pin point. Itâs kind of a cross between ambient, IDM, and highly instrumental styles of music. Their music is something you just listen to and enjoy; itâs certainly not something youâd hear at the club as far as I know.
âCampfire Headphaseâ is one of my favourite albums from Boards of Canada with their recent album âTomorrows Harvestâ almost topping it in rank. âCampfire Headphaseâ is just such a brilliant albums featuring these tracks that have thick layers of organic sounding⊠uhh⊠sounds. Each track feels very well produced as if a horrendous amount of thought had been implemented to produce such calculated pieces. If I could describe this album in three words I would say calming, warm and brilliant.
In the first half of the album weâre introduced to tracks such as âChromakey Dreamcoatâ and âPeacock Tailâ. These tracks seem like youâre going on a journey as you listen to them. The tracks actually go somewhere. âChromakey Dreamcoatâ begins with a tame sounding banjo sort of sound and drums before all of a sudden the track just bursts with swirling ambient sounds and what Iâm assuming is woodwind pipes? Itâs pretty sweet. âPeacock Tailâ is similar to âChromakey Dreamcoatâ in terms of composition; however instead of moving in and out of banjos and drums to heavy ambient synths, âPeacock Tailâ is just one big build up. The track begins with a gentle guitar strumming and as the track progresses drums, xylophones, synths and sort of weird old transmission sounds join in. The track just becomes stockier as it progresses before fading out into nothing.
âDayvan Cowboyâ is another track from the first half thatâs worth mentioning. The beginning half of the track is a slow progression towards something that you just know if going to happen. The sounds of eerie, old sounding ambient music switching from left to right of your ears, deteriorated notes from something that sounds like an electric guitar, and the sound of distant drums that get closer as the track progresses gives the beginning half this sense of suspense. The second half begins with all sounds cutting out leaving this lone guitar to strum before a sort of drop occurs with the sounds of violins, xylophones, synths, drums, etc. gaining speed before ending with the lone guitar. Itâs a really spectacular track. Iâll link this pretty cool music video someone made using the track âDayvan Cowboyâ and footage of the âRed Bull Stratos Jumpâ at the end of this review.
Out of the whole album and not just the first half I would probably suggest that the best tracks (apart from âDayvan Cowboyâ) would be â`84 Pontiac Dreamâ and âOscar See through Red Eyeâ. These two particular tracks are probably the fullest sounding tracks without being overly obnoxious. â`84 Pontiac Dreamâ is just such a calming track even though the track is so thick in composition. There are so many sounds in just one track. The sound of various drums, symbols, thick bass sounds, xylophones, strangely organic synth sounds, ambient noises of streets and rain seem to just swirl in and out. Itâs beautiful. The track âOscar See through Red Eyeâ is kind of similar to â`84 Pontiac Dreamâ in composition however itâs heavier on the drums and strings. The direction in this track just like â`84 Pontiac Dreamâ relies heavily on the sounds of the synths in the background allowing the listener and the various, VARIOUS other sounds to follow along this flowing stream of musical water (and that ladies,  gentlemen and whatever other gender is how you sound like an asshole). Theyâre really good tracks⊠in my opinion.
Thereâs not a lot to say about the second half of the album. The first half is just this amazing array of sounds whist the second half (although still beautiful) is kind of a depressing come down with tracks that progressively become slower and more shallow in terms of their composition. The second half is more of a drawn out closing for the album. Donât let that be a turn off though there are still some decent tracks in the second half. I would suggest âSlow This Bird Downâ and âTears from the Compound Eyeâ are the best tracks of the second half. âSlow This Bird Downâ is a very nice ambient track; itâs very minimalist compared to many of the other tracks. The track features some nice slow and consistent drums, some eerie radio transmission like sounds whilst ambient synth sounds echo in the background like a choir. âTears from the Compound Eyeâ is a little different. It features similar ambient synth sounds with some strange sounding transmission noises. I particularly enjoy the slightly aged sounding, almost violin like synth that sticks out from the eerie drones of ambient sounds; itâs very emotional in a sad lonesome way. The album then comes to an end with âFarewell Fireâ and âMacquarie Ridgeâ (a bonus track in the Japanese release I believe) two very different sounding tracks. âFarewell fireâ is what I consider to be the end of the album. Itâs this very bleak sounding ambient track which has this aged sounding synth playing this kind of slowed down carousel music. Itâs really nice. âMacquarie Ridgeâ, the final track on this album is kind of the opposite. The track has these loud, reverberating synths that repetitively fluctuate whilst this bass sound accompanies the track keeping it grounded. There are also some melodic sounds, various ambient synth sounds, and distant xylophone tunes that appear every now and again. Itâs a pretty uplifting track to end on, a lot less depressing than âFarewell Fireâ my opinion.
I think the album as a whole has been put together incredibly well. The album opens up with tracks that sound like youâre embarking on an amazing journey gaining in awe as it progresses before slowly drawing to an end by the second half inducing feelings of loneliness and emptiness. From the tracks to the construction of the album this album is incredibly emotionally heavy. The tracks are strangely organic sounding as I previously mentioned but even the synthetic sounds have these weird natural textures. Itâs bizarre but awesome. This album is brilliant and I highly recommend the album to anyone who wants to try a very different style of electronic music.
Felix Baumgartner / Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy:Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES02mWIJ2Tk&nohtml5=False