Following a mysterious teaser campaign that saw a number of VHS tapes unexpectedly mailed to fans across the globe, Boards of Canada have seemingly returned with a new song.
Tape 05 marks the first new music from the storied Scottish duo to be released in 13 years, since 2013's Tomorrow's Harvest, Boards of Canada's fourth album.
Uploaded on April 16 to the duo's YouTube account, Tape 05 is accompanied by a typically cryptic video featuring religious and cultish imagery, warped with VHS-style glitches and overlaid with Boards of Canada's Hexagon Sun symbol.
Article continues belowThe track itself is a darkly beautiful ambient piece that traverses multiple moods in just under three-and-a-half minutes, the eerily melancholic synths of the introduction soon giving way to looming drones and scorched fuzz, before the fog clears for a strangely uplifting, semi-orchestral finale carried by harp, organ and rising strings.
"More than a decade of hope has led up to this moment"
Testament to the passionate devotion that the Scottish duo inspire in their fans, reactions in the comments have been almost unanimously positive, with one enthusiastic listener remarking: "This is the closest thing I've had to a religious experience in a long time".
"More than a decade of hope has led up to this moment. I'm grateful to be alive", said @Zaadkameraaad, while @joypowerful admitted they were "crying during my lunchbreak in my car".
No details have yet been shared around Boards of Canada's next project, but all signs point to the imminent release of the duo's fifth album.
On April 6, a small group of fans received VHS tapes bearing the Hexagon Sun logo, sent through distribution channels linked to BoC's label Warp Records. The tapes contained glitchy footage and garbled audio, with a sample lifted from a radio ad for a Christian bible school magazine that ceased publication in 1991.
Soon after, several posters with BoC-esque imagery and the Hexagon Sun logo appeared in London, New York, California and Japan, before the official Warp Records Instagram account seemingly confirmed their legitimacy.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.