The art of making electronic sound has gone through many changes. Much of these are machinery related but the humans have had a hand in them too.
The excitement of making electronic music is a fluctuating concept in itself. The early pioneers of the new wave such as Yazoo and Depeche Mode could barely keep up with their own synthesisers at full pitch. There was a touch of rush hour about episodes of Top of the Pops in the early 1980s. The freshness of the electronic sound gave their youthful songs an urgency.
There is nothing rushed or urgent about the dreamlike sound of In a Beautiful Place out in the Country. A full two decades since the new-wave explosion down south and the aftershock had yet to reach Scotland.
Having broken through with the beautiful but often soporific Music has the Right to Children, Boards of Canada had proven themselves arch practitioners on a whole new level. They appeared entirely independent of their contemporaries and much more adept at twisting and bending the machines to suit their will. It takes a certain amount of skill to make a tune on a keyboard but there's a whole lot more involved should you desire to make it sound like it came from space but they had that unique quality. A beautiful strangeness characterised their early efforts.
In a Beautiful Place in the Country was quieter and stranger still. Dancefloor-friendliness was anathema to their moody sojourns into other realms. It takes courage to go your own way when everyone else is heading for Ibiza.
It was released in 2000, a peak year for the form, but this record was head and shoulders above the pack. In splendid isolation they had developed several individual mannerisms. Vocal samples appeared to float on the heat of some of the warmest tones yet heard. It was all highly considered and delicately worked though. At its core is a kind of softness that has matured magnificently. This record will be loved for a long time, It’s evidence of how the good stuff always endures.
