Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Critic Score
Based on 44 reviews
2013 Ratings: #86 / 1115
Year End Rank: #31
User Score
Based on 703 ratings
2013 Rank: #145
Liked by 63 people
June 11, 2013 / Release Date
LP / Format
Warp / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Independent
There is joy in these grooves; the attentive care of studio perfectionists, and the warm embrace of an old friend.
91
Pretty Much Amazing

These songs, painstakingly constructed using demanding equipment, succeed at creating a cohesive sense of paranoia, fear, and awe. And that, if nothing else, is worth obsessing over.

90
Drowned in Sound

Like a few moments on Tomorrow’s Harvest it’ll take many more listens to decode, but the bulk of the album is immediately dark and succulent, conjuring a beautiful air of malice.

90
Clash

Thankfully, they’ve saved their finest ideas for ‘Tomorrow’s Harvest’, which burns as brightly as anything they have accomplished thus far.

90
The 405

It needs to be listened to in the right sort of atmosphere to reach its full effect, but Boards of Canada's return after seven long years and proved it was worth the wait.

90
Resident Advisor

Bright spots are woven amidst more ruminative fare, providing a sense of narrative that's too often absent in full-lengths these days. Loaded with recurring motifs and studio trickery, Tomorrow's Harvest makes for an especially cryptic listen.

90
No Ripcord

Tomorrow’s Harvest’s greatest strength is how it brings the classic Boards of Canada sound into the modern age and makes it feel totally fresh and alive again – a rare feat for almost any electronic artist.

90
SPIN

It still sounds unmistakably like Boards of Canada, even if their telltale tropes are now scattered across Harvest rather than made to define each of its 17 tracks.

90
AllMusic

The consistent excellence of Tomorrow's Harvest is as comforting as a collection of quietly menacing android fever dreams like these could possibly be.

90
PopMatters

It sounds like an extremely well-produced album that took about eight years of slow studio cooking to produce.

90
Louder Than War
Even if it’s only momentarily, it’s nice to just feel removed from the rest of the world. Tomorrow’s Harvest is a perfect example of how to make such music.
87
Beats Per Minute

Tomorrow’s Harvest finds the duo launching their sound into Lovecraftian orbit. And it sounds terrific;

83
Paste

Simulating forward motion is indeed progress, but it would be great if they threaded in a few elements to signify that. Without concreteness they can only get so dark; it’s hard to have a nightmare about something you can’t visualize.

83
Pitchfork

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. 

80
Slant Magazine
Their aural magic is as evocative as ever, and with their alchemical skills, they could well invent a fifth element, or more.
80
The Guardian

Tomorrow's Harvest may not shout for your attention, but it certainly rewards it.

80
Mojo
It's vintage Boards Of Canada--a beautiful, shimmering, electronic maelstrom of liquid, vintage synths and slo-mo beats.
80
NOW Magazine

The moody synthesizer soundscapes of Tomorrow’s Harvest reveal their rewardingly intricate layers and details with repeated listens.

80
God Is in the TV
Possibly not their best work to date but definitely an evolution for the duo and an excellent return.
80
musicOMH

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.

80
The Line of Best Fit

Neither a huge leap forward nor a step back for the pair, it sounds decidedly humble for an album heralded with such fanfare; it’s as if they’re aware that when the dust settles, it’ll just be another BoC album – and another very good one at that.

80
Sputnikmusic
It’s clear BoC still have some of the magic left over from the turn of the millennia, and when they choose to use it the music hits all the right nerves in exactly the right order.
80
DIY

Boards of Canada have created a fascinating vision, one that will reveal more and more gifts over time.

80
The Fly

Far from daft, ‘Tomorrow’s Harvest’ is a psycho-spiritual stormer.

80
FACT Magazine

There is nothing radically new here – just a slight overhauling of tone, a broadening of theme and a refinement of technique.

80
Consequence of Sound

While their latest transmission isn’t the easiest to receive, upon success, it can be the most rewarding piece of science fiction in years.

80
NME

The granular murk of earlier albums is gone, allowing the band’s brilliant melodies and intricately textured sounds to sparkle darkly.

76
Northern Transmissions
This album won’t convince anyone that isn’t already on board, but if you’re reading this review, it’s likely that you’re already a fan and didn’t need convincing to begin with.
75
Spectrum Culture

While other electronic pioneers yearning to be relevant again too often let trends overtake their initial mission, Boards of Canada have synthesized musical and cultural influences the same way they clearly want listeners to take in Tomorrow’s Harvest: through the seemingly impossible but simultaneous combination of osmosis and a critical eye.

75
A.V. Club

The hopeless mood takes priority over any purposeful sense of direction, making Tomorrow’s Harvest a shadowy wasteland where only the group’s devoted cult of diehards will care to spend much time.

70
Under the Radar

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.

70
Rolling Stone

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.

70
Exclaim!

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.

60
Q Magazine

Tomorrow's Harvest delivers oceans of spare, mellow and melodic electronica, but what it doesn't offer is much in the way of surprises.

60
The Skinny
All told, it's a more than welcome return for the beloved duo, but some way from the glorious second coming that certain fans may have been hoping for.
60
The Arts Desk
With such a mystique very effectively in place the music must do its work - and it does.
60
The Observer

Tomorrow's Harvest is another intriguing Rorschach blot of a record from a splendidly arcane band.

60
The Needle Drop

After about eight years of silence, Boards of Canada return with Tomorrow's Harvest, which might be their saddest and most desolate record to date; directly emulating much of the progressive synth and soundtrack music that has always informed the duo's style.

60
Crack Magazine

For the rest of us who were craving a pioneering record, Tomorrow’s Harvest is a let down.

40
Tiny Mix Tapes

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.

UltimateLifeFrm
95

Omnious as fuck, but very captivating...

Tomorrow's Harvest is the 4th album from Scottish duo Boards of Canada, released in June 2013. It had been recorded from 2005-2012 at Hexagon Sun, Pentland Hills.

They began working on the album shortly after the release of The Campfire Headphase, until late 2012. Due to being more influenced by film soundtracks from the 70s & 80s, this has a much more menacing & foreboding tone than their other works.

Like the other 3 projects I've reviewed ... read more

koxtil
80

I had this a 79 before, but I was bit cold on it because I guess this wasn't like Geogaddi. It is more repetitive and less energetic than most of their other records, but it is still a good record regardless.

Notfunnyperson
90

Good

Krolljr
90

This album is the definition of desolation. Nothing makes me feel more like I'm wandering a post-apocalyptic desert searching for lost radio signals than this album. It might be a hot take, but this is my favorite Boards of Canada album. The world they build here is just so vast and so clear that it's hard not to get completely enveloped in it. Listening to this makes you feel like you are one of the only humans left alive. Aside from that the songs here are quite good too, and a lot of the ... read more

Peturn
74

Their weakest album, but still ight.

95

Best Boards of Canada album when it comes to the soundscape and groovy'ness dont @ me

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Track List

1Gemini
2:56
87
2Reach For The Dead
4:47
93
3White Cyclosa
3:13
81
4Jacquard Causeway
6:35
83
5Telepath
1:32
78
6Cold Earth
3:42
86
7Transmisiones Ferox
2:18
76
8Sick Times
4:16
86
9Collapse
2:49
80
10Palace Posy
4:05
78
11Split Your Infinities
4:28
82
12Uritual
1:59
77
13Nothing Is Real
3:52
90
14Sundown
2:16
88
15New Seeds
5:39
91
16Come To Dust
4:07
89
17Semena Mertvykh
3:30
79
Total Length: 1 hour, 2 minutes
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Added on: April 29, 2013