Tip! *2024 stock* Quality control has never been much of a problem for Boards of Canada. The duo has magnified its legacy at least partly by indulging in generous spells of inactivity. The infrequency of BoC's output has not only fed into the mythos of their carefully cultivated brand, it's also engendered a level of trust that's served as a consolatory point of pride for fans who've felt shut out by the duo's otherwise total remove from the peripheral obligations (live shows, videos, interviews) of being a musical act.

That trust, combined with the relegation of some of Boards' most transcendent material to low-flying EPs (the quartet of tracks on 2000's stopgap In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country ranks as one of their finest song cycles anywhere) is why those of us who weren't bowled over by the airy acousticisms of The Campfire Headphase saw legitimate chance for restitution with this new release.

Trans Canada Highway has great material too. The best of the bunch is the first of the new songs; with its asthma inhaler-synths, warbling melodies and easy, clanging rhythms, "Left Side Drive" is vintage Boards-- spacious and gorgeously arranged. Also great is the incandescent minute-long interlude "Heard From Telegraph Lines", which could loop for another five without overstaying its welcome. "Dayvan Cowboy" is the star of the show, appearing not only in remixed form, but as the backing track to Boards of Canada's first official video, which relies heavily on archival footage from Joseph Kittinger's breathtaking 1960 skydive from just outside the Earth's atmosphere).