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Boards of Canada have shared \u2018Tape 05\u2019, their first new music in thirteen years, out now via Warp Records.<\/p>\n
The Scottish brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin have been one of electronic music\u2019s most enigmatic presences since \u2018Music Has the Right to Children\u2019 in 1998. Their last album, \u2018Tomorrow\u2019s Harvest\u2019, arrived in 2013 to widespread critical acclaim. What followed was over a decade of near-total silence.<\/p>\n
The return was preceded by a campaign as carefully constructed as anything in the duo\u2019s back catalogue. Several weeks ago, Warp sent mysterious VHS tapes to a handful of fans via its retail arm Bleep. The tapes contained audio from a discontinued 1991 Christian Bible school magazine advertisement.<\/p>\n
This was followed by an international poster campaign. Eerie images of ghostly figures with entirely white eyes, stamped with Boards of Canada\u2019s Hexagon Sun logo, appeared in London, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo, with phone numbers and street sign details embedded in the imagery for those paying close enough attention.<\/p>\n
\u2018Tape 05\u2019 itself sits firmly within the duo\u2019s established world: vintage synthesis, filtered melodic loops and analogue textures that recall \u2018Geogaddi\u2019 and \u2018The Campfire Headphase\u2019. Whether it heralds a full album remains unconfirmed, but given the scale and precision of the campaign surrounding it, few are betting against one.<\/p>\n