The Campfire Headphase

This is music you listen to when drugs don't work anymore.

It is a testament to Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin's production acumen that the songs here sound so organic despite their computerized origin. [22 Oct 2005]

Somewhere along the way, the moody micro-bleeps and spacey strums have become a wee bit monotonous and predictable. [21 Oct 2005, p.77]

Boards of Canada seems to be able to release albums pre-aged, so that all the things that might have bugged you a couple years ago now sounds like another part of why it's a classic.

[A] supreme collection of future-perfect broken nostalgia.

This feels like a step down from the last two albums.

Campfire does little to surprise.

Despite its lengthy gestation period, there is more than a hint of deja vu about The Campfire Headphase.

Admittedly, The Campfire Headphase becomes excessive at points.

No, the album will not change your life as of yet, but it might prolong it before we’re all wiped off the planet by environmental destruction. [#11]

This record contains some of the most astounding music that Boards Of Canada have ever composed.

I don't fault them for trying some new things, but the results are mixed at best.

This record isn’t gonna kick you in the head the way that BoC’s last two outings have on occasion done. The break beats aren’t gonna blow you away and there’s nothing here that’ll really get your blood rushing. If you give it the time, though, Campfire reveals itself as an truly beautiful piece of work, better produced and with a tighter sense of melody than the Sandisons have shown in past.

Unlike 2002's 'Geogaddi', it's a wholly gripping journey throughout.

Overall, it's Boards of Canada trying new things and experimenting outside of the box that they built for themselves; commendable and quite addictive.

Radiates good feeling and warmth. [Nov 2005, p.131]

Ultimately, The Campfire Headphase shows continuity with the duo's previous recordings but fails to replicate the sheer beauty and awe-inspiring quality of past material, sounding at times like the work of very good Boards of Canada copyists.

The pair have opted for unfiltered analogue over cleaned-up digital, too, achieving a lush density with loops and textures and a warm wooziness overall that's a million miles removed from their last effort, 2002's dark and almost mathematically complex "Geogaddi".

As well as being their most accessible, The Campfire Headphase emerges as the most solid Boards of Canada album to date.

“Dayvan Cowboy” is almost worth the price of admission, but it makes the remainder of the album seem derivatively “New Age.”

Occasionally, they lapse into their own shuffling comfort zone, but there's always a pixel-level attention to detail here. [Nov 2005, p.102]

Even the best parts lack anything new or novel to add to a sound already perfected.

The likes of 'Chromakey Dreamcoat' sound like they were made on a potter's wheel rather than an iBook. [15 Oct 2005, p.36]

It’s definitely going to be divisive, this album – there are some who simply won’t welcome this definitive stride away from the electronic psychedelia that’s been the Boards’ purlieu for so long.

The spell is broken, however, by pieces like "Tears From the Compound" and "Oscar See Through Red Eye," which get lost in the marshes of their own hypnotic rhythms, sugar-sweet synths and lo-fi, breathy drones.

It's a less alien, less disturbed and thoroughly lighter record. [Nov 2005, p.104]

While The Campire Headphase sounds slightly defalted compared to [earlier] discs, it stlll has many charms. [Jan 2006, p.144]

The Campfire Headphase is enough of a genre bender to finally introduce this music to a well-deserved new audience. [Dec 2005, p.94]