On Friday, IDM legends Boards of Canada released Inferno, their first album in more than 13 years. The same day also marked the release of the highly anticipated A24 feature Backrooms, adapted from the viral YouTube series that was born from a 4chan meme inspired by a haunted yellow-walled room. As it turns out, the two projects share more than just a release date: "The World Becomes Flesh," a track from Inferno, plays during the film's end credits.
Earlier this week, director Kane Parsons discussed his influences in a GQ interview, citing liminal-space compilations, the tech-thriller series Mr. Robot, and ambient music. Parsons is also makes music, releasing his own stuff on the YouTube channel Not Kane Pixels. The film's score, a collaboration between Parsons and composer Edo Van Breemen, drew inspiration from artists such as Aphex Twin, Burial, and Boards of Canada. The connection feels fitting. Both Backrooms and Boards of Canada's music inhabit a space of uncanny familiarity, evoking feelings that are difficult to describe but instantly recognizable.
Parsons is not yet 21 years old, meaning Inferno is only the second Boards of Canada album released during his lifetime. That makes the overlap even more remarkable, and lends some credence to the Reddit user who predicted a connection between the two projects a month ago. "There are also some weird parallels here," Complex_Drawer4790 posted. "Both things lean heavily into that liminal, analogue, 'not quite right' feeling. Plus, BoC has always been mysterious with how they release things, the long gaps, cryptic clues, promo stuff etc..The Backrooms project grew in a very similar underground, internet way before blowing up."
Unlike the unauthorized use of Boards of Canada's music by the Trump administration, this is a collaboration that feels right...or at least as right as something so deliberately unsettling can feel.
