Boards of Canada: The Campfire Headphase (2005)

Boards of Canada: The Campfire Headphase
Label: Warp
Catalog#: WARP CD 123
Format: CD
Country: UK
Released: 2005
Genre: Electronic
Style: Downtempo

Tracklisting:
1. Into The Rainbow Vein (0:44)
2. Chromakey Dreamcoat (5:47)
3. Satellite Anthem Icarus (6:05)
4. Peacock Tail (5:25)
5. Dayvan Cowboy (5:00)
6. A Moment Of Clarity (0:52)
7. '84 Pontiac Dream (3:50)
8. Sherbet Head (2:42)
9. Oscar See Through Red Eye (5:09)
10. Ataronchronon (1:14)
11. Hey Saturday Sun (4:56)
12. Constants Are Changing (1:42)
13. Slow This Bird Down (6:09)
14. Tears From the Compound Eye (4:04)
15. Farewell Fire (8:26)

THE CAMPFIRE HEADPHASE is a return from the darkness of GEOGADDI to a different kind of inspired brilliance which one can call "simply beautiful." You won't find references to Waco or Discordianism or hear darkly disturbing, convoluted voices. Instead, you will hear Eoin's and Sandison's embrace of the simple, beautiful, dazzling things of life. The general feel of TCH is much more relaxed than previous albums. To draw a modest parallel, TCH is to THC as MHTRTC is to LSD. There is less trippiness (although there is still some) and more relaxation and meditation; there remains a personal, dim, analog, dusty, in-your-head feel to every track on the disc, but BoC includes more acoustic instrumentation, specifically guitar, which reminds you that you still have a firm ground in reality.

Yet, this music does almost seem to alter the chemistry of the mind. Boards of Canada know how to pull certain mental strings with their music. For instance, most listeners would never become aware of the fact that many of the chord progressions contained in TCH are based on 5 or 7 beats instead of 4 or 8. This unnatural feature is rare in music, but BoC do an amazing job of making it sound perfectly natural.

Typical of BoC, TCH opens with a warbling prelude, "Into the Rainbow Vein," summoning the listener into the colorful, otherworldly trip that is to follow. BoC state their sound with a dark guitar sample in "Chromakey Dreamcoat", foreshadowing the presence of guitar parts that will stand out through the rest of the album. "Satellite Anthem Icarus", a dreamy, sopoforic guitar-based track, precedes "Peacock Tail", which is perhaps one of the best-formed BoC tracks of all time, building upon layers of rhythm into a enjoyable "headphase".

Several of the songs have short codas on the end which serve as interludes between the tracks, much like the interlude tracks of Geogaddi. "Sherbert Head," one such interlude track, uses a filtration technique which makes the music sound as if it's played through the blades of a fan. This technique, which results in a warm, trippy feel, can also be heard elsewhere on the album.

"Oscar See Through Red Eye", released as a single in September, and "Dayvan Cowboy" are obvious standout tracks on TCH, harkening back to some of the more uptempo tracks from MHTRTC. They are more complicated, containing heaver rhythms. In "Slow this Bird Down," one can easily imagine her/himself flying slowly over some landscape or seascape in the trail of a bird with its wings flapping in slow motion. "Tears From the Compound Eye" has not only one of the most beautiful titles of any BoC track yet released, but halfway through the track one of BoC's most heart-wrenchingly beautiful chord progressions yet comes into play. The closing track is "Farewell Fire." Despite its length and simplicity, it remains gripping to the very end (like Autechre's Vletrmx21). THE CAMPFIRE HEADPHASE fades away in one long, sad, yearning, ever-hopeful expiration.

THE CAMPFIRE HEADPHASE is the BoC album that I will be returning to most until their next release, and proves to be the perfect introductory album to those who haven't yet experienced Boards of Canada. A must have.