Boards of Canada are doing something that feels perfectly on-brand for the most reclusive duo in electronic music: before their first album in 13 years hits shelves, they're inviting fans to hear it in person, all at once, across seven cities worldwide. The Scottish duo announced a series of global listening sessions for Inferno, their fifth studio album, set for May 22 — exactly one week before the record's official release on May 29 via Warp Records.
The listening events will take place simultaneously in Tokyo, Berlin, Barcelona, London, Glasgow, New York, and Los Angeles. Details on venues and ticketing are being shared through the band's Instagram, continuing the cryptic, breadcrumb-style rollout that's defined this entire album cycle.
Inferno itself has been one of the most anticipated albums in electronic music for over a decade. Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin haven't released a studio album since 2013's Tomorrow's Harvest, a record that arrived with its own elaborate ARG-style marketing campaign involving mysterious codes, shortwave radio broadcasts, and Record Store Day exclusives. The new album spans 18 tracks across 70 minutes — a proper double album — and will be available on a limited-edition red translucent 2LP in a triple gatefold sleeve with a 16-page booklet, alongside standard black 2LP, CD, and digital formats.
The album announcement came after weeks of teaser videos from the duo, each one dissected and analyzed frame-by-frame by the devoted Boards of Canada fan community. That the band is now offering a communal listening experience feels like a deliberate contrast to the solitary, headphones-in-the-dark way most people encounter their music. There's something appealing about the idea of hearing an album this anticipated for the first time in a room full of strangers who've been waiting just as long as you have.
Warp Records has been home to Boards of Canada since 1998, and the label's support of the duo's glacial release schedule is itself a kind of statement about artistic patience in an era of constant content. Inferno arrives May 29 worldwide.