Boards of Canada – Twoism [LP]

‘Melissa Juice’ displays a sense of depth one would have thought impossible to achieve with the naïve sounds employed, as two Tomorrow’s World synths delicately wrap around one another and a degraded shuffle pins down this ambiguous and understated texture. The title track allows the percussion to dominate more, with slowly undulating synth pitches inducing a sea-sick melancholy, while in ‘See Ya Later’ melodic elements appear to be continually receding into the distance with synths so saturated by tape decay that they sound like memories of orchestral brass. It’s tough to pick highlights from such a commanding set of tracks, but, if pushed, one might turn towards the destroyed breakbeat stutters of ‘Basefree’ or closer ‘1986 Summer Fires’, which must rank as one of Boards’ most powerful ambient cuts, where a plaintive synth chorale appears to decay on itself as tape distortions subtly accumulate."

Warp, 2013