Difference between revisions of "Inferno"

Revision as of 23:08, 23 April 2026

Inferno

Label(s)	Warp Records
Catalogue No(s)	WARP496
Release date(s)	29 May 2026
Format(s)	Gatefold 2xLP Deluxe 2xLP CD Digital
Running time(s)	69:51 70:00 (Continuous Mix)

Inferno is the upcoming fifth studio album by Boards of Canada, scheduled for release on 29 May 2026 via Warp Records. It is the long-anticipated follow-up to their 2013 album Tomorrow's Harvest. A gap of nearly thirteen years is the band's longest to date between albums.

Tracks

"Introit" – 0:36
"Prophecy At 1420 MHz" – 5:04
"Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan" – 4:44
"Age Of Capricorn" – 3:52
"Father And Son" – 3:24
"Somewhere Right Now In The Future" – 2:26
"Naraka" – 5:01
"Acts Of Magic" – 1:18
"Memory Death" – 2:37
"The Word Becomes Flesh" – 5:20
"Into The Magic Land" – 4:35
"Blood In The Labyrinth" – 4:55
"Deep Time" – 3:18
"All Reason Departs" – 6:14
"Arena Americanada" – 5:22
"The Process" – 3:01
"You Retreat In Time And Space" – 5:25
"I Saw Through Platonia" – 2:39

Leadup

Main article: Road to Inferno

Speculation for the album's release preceded its official announcement by over a decade, with the band and its associates sparsely giving out new information. Activity notably increased in 2025, including the band's Instagram account liking comments related to a new album, a Tomorrow's Harvest-era website coming online once again, and new merchandise being put on sale. For a more detailed look on the band's activities during this period, see the article Road to Inferno.

Promotional Campaign

Main article: 2026 Promo Campaign

In early April 2026, multiple fans received unmarked VHS tapes through the mail, with sender addresses related to Warp and their online storefront Bleep. About a week after, posters with imagery reminiscent of the band started appearing in multiple places around the UK and US. For an in-depth look at the days preceding the album's announcement, see the article 2026 Promo Campaign.

Title and Themes

As a word, Inferno references hell and places reminiscent of it. It is the most explicit reference to religion and the occult since their 2002 album Geogaddi and 2000 EP In a Beautiful Place out in the Country. The album's titles also heavily refer to concepts in cosmology and physics.

An "Introit" is a song or psalm that is sung or recited at the beginning of a Christian mass.
"Father And Son" could reference the Holy Trinity, which consists of the two and The Holy Spirit.
"The Word Becomes Flesh" is a quotation from verse 1:14 of the Gospel of John.
"Naraka" references the realm of hell seen in Indian religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
"The Process" could refer to the Process Church of the Final Judgement, a new religious movement which briefly existed in the 1960s and 70s. The Process was the title of their magazine.
"Prophecy At 1420 MHz" references the hydrogen line, a specific wavelength of radiation emitted by hydrogen as it undergoes a quantum transition. It has been used to investigate the properties of the universe, and search for extraterrestrial life.
"Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan" refers to the first three elements of the periodic table and the mythical sea creature.
"Age Of Capricorn" refers to the tenth sign of the astrological zodiac.
"I Saw Through Platonia" could refer to a concept by Julian Barbour of a realm called Platonia, which contains every possible configuration of the universe.

Trivia

Inferno has been assigned the catalog number WARP496. This seems to be a deliberate request from the band themselves, as preceding Warp releases such as Squarepusher's Kammerkonzert and Oneohtrix Point Never's Tranquilizer have catalog numbers of 417 and 411, respectively.
The Continuous Mix version runs for exactly 70 minutes. This seems to be deliberate, as 70 has carried meaning in the band's past releases. For example:
- Music70 is the name of Mike and Marcus's own label.
- Sixtyten from MHTRTC reads out as 70.
- The Smallest Weird Number from Geogaddi directly refers to 70, which is the smallest weird number. Even though the track runs for 1:17, it cuts out at exactly 1:10, which is 70 seconds.

Release Notes

Quotes

External Links

Press

Boards of Canada Announces New Album Inferno for May Release (Asatunews)
Boards Of Canada Announce New Album ‘Inferno’ (Clash Magazine)
Boards of Canada Announce New Album Inferno (Consequence Sound)
Boards Of Canada announce new album, ‘Inferno’ (DJ Mag)
Boards of Canada Announce New Album Titled Inferno (Opus)
Boards of Canada Reveal New Album Inferno (Pitchfork)
Boards of Canada confirm new album, Inferno (Resident Advisor)
Boards Of Canada Announce New Album Inferno (Stereogum)
Boards Of Canada Detail New Album, ‘Inferno’ (The Quietus)

Various

References

**Discography Overview** | view ⬢ edit
Albums	Music Has the Right to Children ⬢ Geogaddi ⬢ The Campfire Headphase ⬢ Tomorrow's Harvest ⬢ Inferno
EPs	Twoism ⬢ Hi Scores ⬢ Aquarius ⬢ Peel Session ⬢ In a Beautiful Place out in the Country ⬢ Trans Canada Highway
Singles	Reach For The Dead ⬢ Introit / Prophecy At 1420 MHz
Rare / Early Releases	Catalog 3 ⬢ Acid Memories ⬢ Closes Vol. 1 ⬢ Play by Numbers ⬢ Hooper Bay ⬢ Boc Maxima ⬢ Old Tunes Vol. 1 ⬢ Old Tunes Vol. 2 ⬢ Random 35 Tracks Tape ⬢ Boc Remii Vol. 1
Mixtapes	Marcus Eoin's Campfire Mixtape ⬢ Societas x Tape
Live Sets	Live @ Warp10 ⬢ Live @ Lighthouse ⬢ Live @ ATP ⬢ All Gigs
Promotional Releases	Telephasic Workshop ⬢ MHTRTC (promo cassette) ⬢ Orange Romeda ⬢ Geogaddi (promo lp) ⬢ Geogaddi (test pressing) ⬢ Geogaddi (promo cassette) ⬢ ------ / ------ / ------ / XXXXXX / ------ / ------ ⬢ Reach For The Dead (promo cd) ⬢ Come To Dust (promo cd)
Compilation Exclusives	Korona ⬢ Orange Romeda ⬢ Seven Forty Seven
Produced by BoC for Others	Here Come The Rubber Cops ⬢ Orangutang
Bootleg Releases	Unreleased Tracks
Other	Kaleidoscope ⬢ Promotional Events ⬢ Promotional Items ⬢ Merchandise ⬢ Web media
Lead-up	RSD 2013 ARG ⬢ Road to Inferno ⬢ 2026 Promo Campaign
To Be Determined	BoCset

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | cover=Inferno cover.jpg
 | release_date=29 May 2026
-| format=Gatefold 2xLP <br> CD <br> Digital <br>
+| format=Gatefold 2xLP <br> Deluxe 2xLP <br> CD <br> Digital
 | label=Warp Records
-| catno=WARPLP496 (2xLP) <br> WARPCD496 (CD) <br> WARP496 (digital)
+| catno=WARP496
 | runtime=69:51 <br> 70:00 <small>(Continuous Mix)</small>
 }}
-'''''Inferno''''' is the upcoming fifth studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], scheduled for release on 29 May 2026 via [[Warp Records]]. It is the long-anticipated follow-up to their 2013 album ''[[Tomorrow's Harvest]]'' - a gap of nearly thirteen years, the band's longest to date between albums.
+'''''Inferno''''' is the upcoming fifth studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], scheduled for release on 29 May 2026 via [[Warp Records]]. It is the long-anticipated follow-up to their 2013 album ''[[Tomorrow's Harvest]]''. A gap of nearly thirteen years is the band's longest to date between albums.
-<div class="toclimit-4">
 __TOC__
-</div>
 == Tracks ==
@@ Line 40: / Line 38: @@
 ''Main article: [[Road to Inferno]]''
-Speculation for the album's release preceded its official announcement by over a decade, with the band and its associates sparsely giving out new information. Some noteworthy events are listed below. For a more detailed look on the band's activities during this period, see the article [[Road to Inferno]].
+Speculation for the album's release preceded its official announcement by over a decade, with the band and its associates sparsely giving out new information. Activity notably increased in 2025, including the band's Instagram account [[Road_to_Inferno#Instagram_Likes|liking comments related to a new album]], a [[Tomorrow's Harvest]]-era [[Cosecha-transmisiones.com|website]] [[Road_to_Inferno#Cosecha_Transmisiones|coming online once again]], and [[Road_to_Inferno#New_Merchandise|new merchandise being put on sale]]. For a more detailed look on the band's activities during this period, see the article [[Road to Inferno]].
-=== Official Statements ===
-* [[Marcus Eoin]], June 2013: "It feels like neither of those things from our perspective because we've always been working! We'd be making music anyway even if nobody was listening, and '''we've no intention of stopping''', so this is just a continuation." &mdash; in response to the question "Is this record a new beginning or maybe the end? How does it feel for you?", from the interview [[The Charms of the Sphinx]].
-* [[MDG]], June 2022: "Nothing specific I'm allowed to share yet unfortunately, just that '''a new album is on its way'''."
-* [[Bleep.com|Bleep]], April 2023: "we don't know '''when''' the new [[BoC]] album is coming" &mdash; note the use of ''when'' rather than ''if'', implying the album was confirmed to be in progress.<ref>https://bleep.com/newsletters/boards-of-canada--music-has-the-right-to-children-25th-anv-1</ref>
-* [[Boards of Canada|BoC]]'s official [https://www.threads.net/@boardsofcanada Threads], July 2023: "Follow here for '''future news''' & '''announcements''' etc."
-=== Instagram Likes (2025) ===
-Starting in March 2025, [[BoC]] liked numerous comments across their official [https://www.instagram.com/boardsofcanada/ Instagram], the vast majority on the topic of new music. See [[:Category:Instagram]] for the full archive and [[LP5#Table|the LP5 table]] for a summary.
-=== Cosecha Transmisiones ===
-''Main article: [[Cosecha-transmisiones.com]]''
-On '''1 May 2025''', users on [[Twoism (messageboard)|Twoism]] and [https://www.reddit.com/r/boardsofcanada r/boardsofcanada] noticed that the website [[Cosecha-transmisiones.com|cosecha-transmisiones.com]], originally used in the promotion of ''[[Tomorrow's Harvest]]'' had been updated to read:
-<code>nobody home... /// -. --- -... --- -.. -.-- / .... --- -- . .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.-</code>
-Over the following months the site displayed various errors and server configuration sites before being redirected to the original [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2lyYEUPat8 ''Tomorrow's Harvest'' Transmission] video on 29 August 2025. These changes have not been acknowledged publically.
-=== New Merchandise ===
-On '''6 June 2025''', new [[Boards of Canada]] merchandise was announced and exclusively available at [[Bleep.com|Bleep]], produced on unisex Stanley and Stella blanks with a [[Boards of Canada]] neck label.<ref>https://bleep.com/boards-of-canada-2025-merchandise</ref><ref>https://warp.net/artists/boards-of-canada</ref><ref>https://bsky.app/profile/bleep.com/post/3lqxaqw2mj22s</ref><ref>https://www.instagram.com/p/DKkNBcdIEfz/?img_index=1</ref> Shipping from Bleep's UK and USA warehouses began on 11 June. The release was widely read as a prelude to an album announcement.
-=== Twoism 30 ===
-On '''15 August 2025''', [[Boards of Canada]] uploaded a ''[[Twoism (release)|Twoism]]'' 30th-anniversary celebration video to their social media accounts.<ref>https://www.instagram.com/p/DNYMbzWMJIZ/</ref><ref>https://www.threads.com/@boardsofcanada/post/DNYN0UYMSVj</ref><ref>https://bsky.app/profile/boardsofcanada.bsky.social/post/3lwhdn4y3vk2d</ref><ref>https://x.com/boardsofcanada/status/1956358894902550775</ref><ref>https://www.facebook.com/boardsofcanada/videos/1494936234977208</ref> The band's first publicly-available vinyl mini album ''[[Twoism (release)|Twoism]]''&mdash;originally limited to 100 copies in 1995&mdash;was made available through [[Bleep.com]].
-On the same post, [[Boards of Canada]] liked a large batch of comments speculating about a forthcoming album.
 == Promotional Campaign ==
@@ Line 83: / Line 47: @@
 == Title and Themes ==
-As a word, ''Inferno'' references hell and places reminiscent of it. It is the most explicit reference to religion and the occult since their 2002 album ''[[Geogaddi]]'' and 2000 EP ''[[In a Beautiful Place out in the Country (release)|In a Beautiful Place out in the Country]]''. The album's titles also refer to concepts in cosmology and physics heavily.
+As a word, ''Inferno'' references hell and places reminiscent of it. It is the most explicit reference to religion and the occult since their 2002 album ''[[Geogaddi]]'' and 2000 EP ''[[In a Beautiful Place out in the Country (release)|In a Beautiful Place out in the Country]]''. The album's titles also heavily refer to concepts in cosmology and physics.
 * An "[[Introit]]" is a song or psalm that is sung or recited at the beginning of a Christian mass.
@@ Line 89: / Line 53: @@
 * "[[The Word Becomes Flesh]]" is a quotation from [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201:14&version=NIV verse 1:14] of the Gospel of John.
 * "[[Naraka]]" references the realm of hell seen in Indian religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
-* "[[The Process]]" could refer to the Process Church of the Final Judgement, a new religious movement which briefly existed in the 1960s and 70s.
+* "[[The Process]]" could refer to the Process Church of the Final Judgement, a new religious movement which briefly existed in the 1960s and 70s. ''The Process'' was the title of their magazine.
 * "[[Prophecy At 1420 MHz]]" references the hydrogen line, a specific wavelength of radiation emitted by hydrogen as it undergoes a quantum transition. It has been used to investigate the properties of the universe, and search for extraterrestrial life.
 * "[[Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan]]" refers to the first three elements of the periodic table and the mythical sea creature.
@@ Line 98: / Line 62: @@
 * ''Inferno'' has been assigned the catalog number WARP496. This seems to be a deliberate request from the band themselves, as preceding Warp releases such as Squarepusher's [https://warp.net/releases/576448-kammerkonzert/ Kammerkonzert] and Oneohtrix Point Never's [https://warp.net/releases/552598-tranquilizer/ Tranquilizer] have catalog numbers of 417 and 411, respectively.
-** '''496 is mathematically and physically significant in several ways:'''
+* The Continuous Mix version runs for exactly 70 minutes. This seems to be deliberate, as 70 has carried meaning in the band's past releases. For example:
-** It is the '''third perfect number''' — a positive integer equal to the sum of its proper divisors: 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 31 + 62 + 124 + 248 = 496. The first two perfect numbers are 6 and 28. 496 = 2<sup>4</sup>·(2<sup>5</sup> − 1), where 31 is a [[wikipedia:Mersenne prime|Mersenne prime]].
+** [[Music70]] is the name of [[Mike Sandison|Mike]] and [[Marcus Eoin|Marcus]]'s own label.
-** It is the '''31st [[wikipedia:Triangular number|triangular number]]''' — the sum of all integers from 1 to 31.
+** [[Sixtyten]] from [[Music Has the Right to Children|MHTRTC]] reads out as 70.
-** In theoretical physics, '''496 is the dimension of the gauge groups E<sub>8</sub>×E<sub>8</sub> and SO(32)''' — the two groups that allow [[wikipedia:Heterotic string|heterotic string theory]] to be anomaly-free under the [[wikipedia:Green–Schwarz mechanism|Green–Schwarz mechanism]] (1984). It is one of the most recognisable numbers in 20th-century mathematical physics.
+** [[The Smallest Weird Number]] from [[Geogaddi]] directly refers to 70, which is the smallest [[wikipedia:Weird number|weird number]]. Even though the track runs for 1:17, it cuts out at exactly 1:10, which is 70 seconds.
-** The choice is consistent with [[Boards of Canada]]'s history of numerical encoding (e.g. ''[[Geogaddi]]'' contains 23 tracks tied to the "23 Enigma" / Discordianism, a 66:06 running time read as 666, and a Japanese release date of 13 February 2002 keyed to Revelation 13:18) and with the album's pervasive physics and cosmology references — see "[[Prophecy At 1420 MHz]]", "[[Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan]]", "[[Deep Time]]" and "[[I Saw Through Platonia]]".
-* The album runs for 69:51. However, a companion digital release - '''''Inferno (Continuous Mix)''''', runs for exactly 70 minutes. This seems to be deliberate, as 70 has carried meaning in the band's past releases. For example:
-** '''''[[Music70]]''''' is the name of [[Mike Sandison|Mike]] and [[Marcus Eoin|Marcus]]'s own label, owned and operated out of [[Hexagon Sun]].
-** '''"[[Sixtyten]]"''' (on ''[[Music Has the Right to Children]]'', 1998) - the title is the number '''70 written out as "sixty + ten"'''. The track's own lyric samples even extract their Earth, Wind &amp; Fire source from '''1:10''' of the original record, which is 70 seconds.
-** '''"[[The Smallest Weird Number]]"''' (track 9 on ''[[Geogaddi]]'', 2002) directly refers to '''70''', the smallest [[wikipedia:Weird number|weird number]] (an [[wikipedia:Abundant number|abundant]] integer that is not [[wikipedia:Semiperfect number|semiperfect]]). Although the track runs 1:17, its melody cuts out at exactly '''1:10 — i.e. 70 seconds'''.
 == Release Notes ==
-''(To be populated from Warp's promotional copy once released.)''
 == Quotes ==
-''(To be populated as interviews appear around the release.)''
 == See Also ==
-* [[LP5]] &ndash; archived speculation/leadup page
+* [[Road to Inferno]]
 * [[2026 Promo Campaign]]
-* [[Tomorrow's Harvest]] &ndash; previous studio album (2013)
 * [[Discography]]
 * [[Timeline]]