In a Beautiful Place out in the Country

AMG Review of In a Beautiful Place out in the Country

Dean Carlson
All Music Guide

Forget everything you ever thought was dull or ponderous about ambient music, as Boards of Canada return like Aeschylusian heroes -- unbound from a genre that often sounds like a washing machine begging for a swift kick. Pay attention, Radiohead. Boards of Canada traced a disturbed childhood in the arctic, austere Music Has the Right to Children, but here there's a slightly warmer feeling. More central, tweaked vocals add a new dimension to the "hard beats + bittersweet melodies" pattern of the past; songs like the gorgeous, ice-melting "Zoetrope" glide along on simple celestial glimmers without a single bassline in sight. It's as if the band is thawing out in preparation for something. Even when it's hard to tell what that might be. Tiny, exploratory decisions -- no matter. You'll likely want to crawl inside this EP's washing machine for a long, long time.