ONE MORE VERY IMPORTANT THOUGHT...

Further musing regarding Boards Of Canada... not long ago, I was surprised to come across a comment in the music press to the effect that BOC offer little more than aspirational, middle class muzak. This comment appeared, curiously enough, in a review of a film about the Scandinavian Black Metal scene, the soundtrack of which apparently features a couple of BOC tracks. This 'analysis' disregards - or displays an ignorance of - the multiple layers of information comprising the average Eoin/Sandison piece and the fact that many of these gesture at various levels of esoteric interest. Satanism, paganism, Christian apocalypse cults and mathematics are hardly the kind of references you'd find on a Groove Armada album, after all.

While the duo have never concealed their desire to make melodious, accessible music, to dismiss their body of work as mere chillout fodder would be a gross oversimplification. Furthermore, it seems to me that BOC, especially early on, mirrored the radical retreatism and environmental concerns of second-wave Black Metal, not to mention its emphasis on atmosphere. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the makers of said film used these pieces precisely because they perceived these commonalities - neither would it shock if many of the musicians who appear in the film happened to be fans of the Scottish duo. Especially Darkthrone's Fenriz, who has demonstrated his - for want of a better term - catholic tastes on many occasions.

What do we conclude from this? Simply that, as BOC might say, 'The Devil Is In The Details'...