Tomorrow's Harvest
by Boards of Canada
  • Record Label: Warp
  • Release Date: Jun 11, 2013
Metascore
85

Universal acclaim - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 35
  3. Negative: 0 out of 35
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  1. AllMusic
    Jun 10, 2013
    90
    The consistent excellence of Tomorrow's Harvest is as comforting as a collection of quietly menacing android fever dreams like these could possibly be.
  2. Beats Per Minute
    Jun 11, 2013
    87
    Where Music Has the Right seemed grounded in the real world (albeit a twisted recollection of such) and Geogaddi straddled the line between Star Wars and The Sandlot, Tomorrow’s Harvest finds the duo launching their sound into Lovecraftian orbit. And it sounds terrific.
  3. Blurt Magazine
    Jul 3, 2013
    100
    It is chock-a-block with everything you have ever loved about the Boards over the last 15-some-odd years.
  5. Boston Globe
    Jun 11, 2013
    90
    Tomorrow’s Harvest is as strong a return to form as it is stunning an update, with the Scottish duo refining their blend of nostalgic sonics and futuristic sheen.
  6. Clash Music
    Jun 5, 2013
    90
    Thankfully, they’ve saved their finest ideas for Tomorrow’s Harvest, which burns as brightly as anything they have accomplished thus far
  7. CMJ
    Jun 14, 2013
    80
    There’s no twist ending here--just another excellent Boards Of Canada album.
  8. Consequence
    Jun 10, 2013
    80
    While their latest transmission isn’t the easiest to receive, upon success, it can be the most rewarding piece of science fiction in years.
  9. DIY Magazine
    Jun 5, 2013
    80
    Boards of Canada have created a fascinating vision, one that will reveal more and more gifts over time.
  10. Drowned In Sound
    Jun 5, 2013
    90
    These 17 vignettes glow with Cold War paranoia, picking up where Threads, the most scarring piece of TV ever made, left off. It might also be the duo’s most accomplished album yet--and that’s coming from someone unable to remove the Hi Scores LP from his stereo.
  11. Exclaim
    Jun 11, 2013
    70
    While Tomorrow's Harvest makes for a wonderful listen, and a perfect gateway album for new fans, it's not the revelation many devotees were hoping for.
  12. Fact Magazine (UK)
    Jun 11, 2013
    80
    Sandison and Eoin have produced an album that, in spite of its considerable runtime, is genuinely absorbing and convincing in its narrative sweep.
  13. Los Angeles Times
    Jun 11, 2013
    75
    Any of these songs could have appeared at any point in the group's discography. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. A full-body massage, after all, is just as pleasing the fourth time as the first.
  14. Magnet
    Jul 17, 2013
    85
    Though it's easily the group's densest, most challenging release to date, Tomorrow's Harvest will likely gratify anyone willing to dig deep enough to reap its wonders. [No. 100, p.53]
    All this publication's reviews
  15. Mojo
    Jun 17, 2013
    80
    It's vintage Boards Of Canada--a beautiful, shimmering, electronic maelstrom of liquid, vintage synths and slo-mo beats. [Jul 2013, p.82]
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  16. musicOMH.com
    Jun 6, 2013
    80
    At times, it is a little overwhelming over the 17 tracks, but there are plenty of beautiful moments here, the sort of moments which continue to propel BOC well ahead of many of their IDM contemporaries.
  17. No Ripcord
    Jun 21, 2013
    90
    Tomorrow’s Harvest, the duo’s latest, is a perfect reminder of how well these two can bring their unique aesthetic to life through music.
  18. NOW Magazine
    Jul 8, 2013
    80
    The moody synthesizer soundscapes of Tomorrow’s Harvest reveal their rewardingly intricate layers and details with repeated listens.
  19. Paste Magazine
    Jun 11, 2013
    83
    There’s a sense of purpose and forward motion on this record where old tracks had a feeling of circling in place until the tape eroded.
  20. Pitchfork
    Jun 10, 2013
    83
    What we’re left with is Boards of Canada’s moodiest record, a full-length tinted with atmosphere that unfolds slowly and is happy to allow you to come to it.
  21. PopMatters
    Jun 10, 2013
    90
    Though demanding repeated listens, Tomorrow’s Harvest distinguishes itself by making intense commitment (e.g. What’s the better way to enjoy it, headphones or stereo, broken-up “side” listens on vinyl vs. one full immersive CD spin?) a welcome task for the summer of 2013.
  22. Pretty Much Amazing
    Jun 13, 2013
    91
    It’s the duo’s most sinister and fascinating collection of songs, enrapturing the listener with dystopian soundscapes and frustrating arrangements.
  23. Q Magazine
    Jul 10, 2013
    60
    Tomorrow's Harvest delivers oceans of spare, mellow and melodic electronica, but what it doesn't offer is much in the way of surprises. [Aug 2013, p.98]
    All this publication's reviews
  24. Resident Advisor
    Jun 11, 2013
    90
    Even the most careful listener will be left wondering what it all means. Luckily, Boards Of Canada have laid out a riddle we won't tire of teasing out, embedded in a timeless sound unlike any other.
  25. Rolling Stone
    Jun 11, 2013
    70
    There's plenty of intellect on Tomorrow's Harvest but not nearly as much soul; like an intricate artifact found preserved in a glacier, this album is impressive to behold, but cold to the touch.
  26. Slant Magazine
    Jun 13, 2013
    80
    Their aural magic is as evocative as ever, and with their alchemical skills, they could well invent a fifth element, or more.
  27. Spin
    Jun 10, 2013
    90
    With Tomorrow's Harvest, the Sandisons' return feels natural. Rather than resort to hiring disco session musicians or citing Judith Butler to add a new kink to their sound, they've done something even rarer in the modern era: They’ve aged with grace.
  28. The A.V. Club
    Jun 11, 2013
    75
    Tomorrow’s Harvest is easily the Scottish duo’s most ghostly, bleak effort to date.
  29. The Fly (UK)
    Jun 5, 2013
    80
    Far from daft, Tomorrow’s Harvest is a psycho-spiritual stormer.
  30. The Guardian
    Jun 6, 2013
    80
    Tomorrow's Harvest may not shout for your attention, but it certainly rewards it.
  31. The Independent on Sunday (UK)
    Jun 10, 2013
    100
    There is joy in these grooves; the attentive care of studio perfectionists, and the warm embrace of an old friend.
  32. The Line of Best Fit
    Jun 6, 2013
    80
    Though very few of the songs themselves outstay their welcome, Tomorrow’s Harvest as a whole can feel overly long, and it’s the short songs that are the problem--they feel like unnecessary padding in a record whose triumphs should have been allowed to stand tall and proud by themselves.
  33. The Observer (UK)
    Jun 10, 2013
    60
    Tomorrow's Harvest is another intriguing Rorschach blot of a record from a splendidly arcane band.
  34. The Wire
    Jul 3, 2013
    80
    Crackle and hiss are still in evidence, but the effect is toned down, and less suggestive of sonic patina than of the hostile climate of a world far removed from the languid, sun-dappled pools and rolling vistas suggested by 2005's The Campfire Headphase. [Jul 2013, p.53]
    All this publication's reviews
  35. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Jun 11, 2013
    40
    Where the dog-eared, snapshot ambient wooze of Twoism and Geogaddi once harbored a feverish throb, Tomorrow’s Harvest now prickles with hollow spaces: a fragmentary, pixelated symbolism has been lost in the construction of an outline of a broader system.
  36. Under The Radar
    Jun 11, 2013
    70
    It might not be a major leap forward for Boards of Canada, but when the music continues to be so obviously them, maybe Tomorrow's Harvest doesn't need to be.

Awards & Rankings

34
#34 Best Album of 2013
85
#85 Most Discussed Album of 2013

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 118 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 108 out of 118
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 118
  3. Negative: 5 out of 118
  1. dangerelis
    Jun 11, 2013
    10
    Although not as striking as their debut album Music Has the Right to Children, Tomorrow's Harvest is everything i had hoped for in a returnAlthough not as striking as their debut album Music Has the Right to Children, Tomorrow's Harvest is everything i had hoped for in a return from Boards of Canada. It has a feeling of fallout, what to expect after a cataclysmic event, and each track is its own part of that journey. There are throwbacks to Boards of old, and also new ventures into their sound scape and i can't stop listening to it.… Full Review »
  2. delusionn
    Jun 11, 2013
    9
    For all the nostalgia Tomorrow's Harvest oozes, it's not nostalgia for uncomplicated childhood memories and innocence of youth; it's nostalgiaFor all the nostalgia Tomorrow's Harvest oozes, it's not nostalgia for uncomplicated childhood memories and innocence of youth; it's nostalgia of a certain era, and to a certain degree, even the science and pseudoscience of the era parts Boards of Canada's albums sound like they could have been pulled from Jacques Cousteau documentaries (which was the case at least once), In Search Of…, "Ancient Aliens" documentaries hosted by Rod Serling and the documentary about the pseudoscience of Erich von Daniken, Nova, and perhaps least surprisingly nature and science documentaries by the National Film Board of Canada.

    Boards of Canada reference ephemeral music of old 1970s documentaries and movies in a way that can be especially creepy because not only are my memories of it profoundly imperfect, but so are the extant archives of them, having in most cases traveled through several generations of degraded tape. Much of their work revels in its own references to analogue culture, 70s futurism, and imperfect memory, and Tomorrow's Harvest is a return to that feel that they briefly stepped away from during The Campfire Headphase.

    Tomorrow's Harvest sounds like a soundtrack to a long-forgotten unearthed documentary about events and concepts which are often difficult to treat fairly in one hour and frankly quite sinister the failures of social and agrarian policies, the failure of utopia, occultism, the frailty of memory, the paranoia of the Cold War, ecological disaster, the reality behind surface appearances, eschatology, and lonliness.

    This is a bit less accessible than Geogaddi, but inhabits a similar dark space. Tomorrow's Harvest is very nearly exactly the album I was hoping it would be.    … Full Review »
  3. PaulCharles
    Jun 17, 2013
    10
    I'm not sure how I missed this band. I search for new music all the time and I luckily came across Boards of Canada through metacritic. ThisI'm not sure how I missed this band. I search for new music all the time and I luckily came across Boards of Canada through metacritic. This is one of the best cd's I've ever heard. It takes you to a completely new place. Would recommend to anyone!… Full Review »
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