Releasing only three albums in 11 years, new material from Boards Of Canada is to be greeted like alcohol is in the Big Brother house, with every precious drop savoured, as you never know when you're going to get your next taste. However, unlike the booze on the hit TV show Boards' music will have the total opposite effect than that of causing the beginning of War World III!
In the past, Boards EPs have produced some of the Sandison brothers' most memorable material. The Hi Scores EP contained Everything You Do Is A Balloon and Turquoise Hexagon Sun, Kid For Today featured on In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country and the Peel Sessions EP was the first to showcase Happy Cycling. Expectations then for Trans Canada Highway are high.
Last year's The Campfire Headphase was notable for being the first of the electronic duo's releases to feature guitars and it is a highlight track off that album which features prominently on this new EP. The fuzzy guitars and lush orchestral majesty of Dayvan Cowboy is classic new era Boards and juxtaposes with the desolation felt on the remix version by cLOUDDEAD's Odd Nosdam which concludes this six song collection.
Of the new tracks on show Skyliner is the most notable. A busy dance beat is surrounded by a gorgeous synth atmospheric backdrop. The rest of the EP is far more lo-fi, with the brooding and spacious Left Side Drive having a 'we'll take our time while everyone else rushes about' feel about it and ambient one minute interlude, Heard From Telegraph Lines, one of what it must be like to float in space. Despite being pleasing to the ear however, none of the fresh material excites like previous releases, with Under The Coke Sign being a particularly forgettable snippet of ambient nothingness.
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