17. You Retreat In Time And Space

[2020k]

If someone doesn't tell me what the first two minutes of footage is from I think I'm going to combust. Please. Somebody.



edit: found it

[Redd Panderson]

If someone doesn't tell me what the first two minutes of footage is from I think I'm going to combust. Please. Somebody.



edit: found it

Phew, relieved you didn't burst into flame

[fujee]

This song isn't landing for me. Sorry. It's a pale imitation of classic BoC.

[TaoTapeTao]

This song isn't landing for me. Sorry. It's a pale imitation of classic BoC.

I don't think so. It fits so well with its placement on the album, sort of a farewell from the "Magic Land" that the album descends into. The mixing is fantastic, the melodies are wonderful, and that bass fill is killer. How can it be an imitation if its made by them lol?

[IanRedpoint]

This song isn't landing for me. Sorry. It's a pale imitation of classic BoC.

I'm actually kinda with you on this. Still sounds like Royksopp imitating BoC to my ears. I forgive it somewhat, just because of where it is situated on the album, but it just lacks that subtlety that I hear on the rest of the record.

It's funny - I really thought it would grow on me.

[fujee]

@Tao, horses for courses. I know it's well produced and quite pretty, but it's missing a bit of the mystery/wonder that ebbs through most of their classic tracks in this style. One day it will reveal itself to me I'm sure. Also, bands can definitely pastiche themselves over a long career. Plenty have done it.

@Ian, I'll get crucified for this, but I said to Rikkiebags and Mexicola that it sounds like Tycho. Again, my opinion and I'm sure I'll end up eating my words in the long run.

[Rikkiebags]

Damn you to hell for youe Tycho comment, man! That cuts to the bone. (For the record, I did like Tycho until he went full band with Dive and descended into Coldplay levels of mediocrity.)

It never fails to bring a mistyness to my eyes. For that alone I love it, calculated or not.

[Cupz]

its almost satirically boc

[steeldancer-x]

I have to agree. But still enough so to bring a grown man to tears

[Chodlington]

It's very ok.

[squid]

It's funny, I totally see why you could see it as a satire or pale imitation of their earlier selves, but I view it in a kind of opposite way and it absolutely works for me. At the moment it's my favourite track on the album, which is saying something!

It seems intentionally nostalgic and referential of themselves, but not in a cheap or cynical way at all, it feels like part of the story they're telling. Particularly where it's placed in the album, after an often dark, intense journey up to this point, you get the long, beautiful build up. Then the way that Roygbiv-like melody suddenly bursts out. It feels exactly like the title describes it, you Retreat from the dark, scary present, back in time and space to simpler, maybe happier times and places. Kind feels like them getting meta about the concept of nostalgia and retreating into it (for better or worse).

Even if I'm reading too much into it, the fact they used this classic BoC nostalgia sound so sparingly when the rest of the album breaks new ground, makes it work for me and not sound tired or clichéd.

[A_Northern_Soul]

its almost satirically boc

I think that's exactly it. I really like it, but it does sound like they've set out to make a tune that sounds like Boards of Canada.

I do quite like it when artists do that - being quite self-referential to their other work by reusing something - a lyric, a bass line, a melody, or whatever - I think it shows a confidence in what they do. "Yeah - this is us."

[Negamuse]

@Ian, I'll get crucified for this, but I said to Rikkiebags and Mexicola that it sounds like Tycho. Again, my opinion and I'm sure I'll end up eating my words in the long run.

This feels a bit like, and I don't mean this in a mean way to you, you hear American people react to seeing castles in Europe and saying "it's like Disneyland!" Because from that perspective it is totally fair, right? But it's like, no, Disneyland is like this, and the difference feels important.

But you can't get mad about it because you wouldn't be having the conversation at all if you weren't stood in front of a fancy castle. And YRITAS is a fancy-ass castle.

Everything on the castle is there for a reason, some of the reason is "that bit is there to make the castle functional" some of it is "this was the fashion for castles when we built this".

Tycho has done some fine things but his BoCish stuff is Disneyland castles.

BoC doing this track... eh it's twiddly for them but they've made a lot of castles. I don't think it's dishonestly twiddly. I'm acknowledging that's giving them latitude I wouldn't be giving Tycho if they had done the track, especially at this point in time, because it means something different if imitation is an ingredient, is that fair?

Sorry to go on about castles, I saw a castle today

[jcnporter]

its almost satirically boc

I think that's exactly it. I really like it, but it does sound like they've set out to make a tune that sounds like Boards of Canada.

I do quite like it when artists do that - being quite self-referential to their other work by reusing something - a lyric, a bass line, a melody, or whatever - I think it shows a confidence in what they do. "Yeah - this is us."

Yeah, I think this is the point for me - it's self-referential, but not in a lazy, album filler way - it feels very deliberate and its appeal very contextual - the sound, the placement on the album. It has a playfulness about it that I think is very intentional as well.
In my mind it's inseparable from I Saw Through Platonia - particularly its computer noise/heartbeat finale - like a last nostalgic memory before an end, whatever that may be.

[IanRedpoint]

This observation from the "Controversial Opinions" thread has helped me understand what has been bothering me about YRITAS.

We're in a totally different time now from when their earlier albums were made and it's hard to see any significant return to their 'lighter'/less heavy side any time soon. Not that that's a good or bad thing, just different and comes with a different emotional punch. There are still glimpses of it throughout Inferno though for sure, that's one of things that makes You Retreat In Time and Space in so poignant.

The self-referential side of the track is absolutely deliberate. It could have fit better on an earlier record in some respects, and intentionally feels like it has been beamed in from a different, more innocent time. The fact that it is slightly jarring is a sign of how much darker and more complicated our lives have become in the past 25-30 years. It sounds out of place/time because those sounds and emotions don't fit our broken world. All we can feel now is sadness at what has been lost - that sense of joy, contentment and security.

[el Cerebro]

I have to agree. But still enough so to bring a grown man to tears

I can vouch for this, as a grown man in public no less, first listening with a bunch of strangers haha

[el Cerebro]

This observation from the "Controversial Opinions" thread has helped me understand what has been bothering me about YRITAS.

We're in a totally different time now from when their earlier albums were made and it's hard to see any significant return to their 'lighter'/less heavy side any time soon. Not that that's a good or bad thing, just different and comes with a different emotional punch. There are still glimpses of it throughout Inferno though for sure, that's one of things that makes You Retreat In Time and Space in so poignant.

The self-referential side of the track is absolutely deliberate. It could have fit better on an earlier record in some respects, and intentionally feels like it has been beamed in from a different, more innocent time. The fact that it is slightly jarring is a sign of how much darker and more complicated our lives have become in the past 25-30 years. It sounds out of place/time because those sounds and emotions don't fit our broken world. All we can feel now is sadness at what has been lost - that sense of joy, contentment and security.

This almost perfectly sums it up for me. Even 90 seconds in you’re not sure where it’s going—things almost feel awkward for a bit. And then it erupts into this kaleidoscopic rewind, a deliberate eulogy perhaps. After reading the initial reactions after the 5/22 events I was totally hyped to hear it, and at first I was absolutely a little disappointed. But repeatedly hearing it in the context of the album it makes perfect sense, and has grown on me more than any other track.

[Techboy]

Maybe this is just megafan cope - I don't think it is - but the callbacks are so obviously deliberate that it feels like it has to be something other than a lazy self-parody.

I had a quick watch of ixi's run through of Inferno and her take on this tune did resonate with me - I thought when I first heard it that it was very BOC, almost a pastiche as someone said earlier in the thread, but she reckons there's at least a couple, if not more, callbacks to their back catalogue in it, either on purpose or subconsciously. It made me listen to it in a completely different way.
Not that I can point out exactly what's being referenced, but suddenly I'm hearing beats and bass from MHTRTC, flashes of melodies here and there that make me think of Geogaddi, the first part gives me Farewell Fire vibes, the tv theme synth touches feel like Nothing is Real or 84 Pontiac Dream. The title feels like it's hinting in that direction as well. It feels like them taking us on a trip down memory lane and I absolutely love it. And not to mention those sublime wee bass runs...

I thought this straight away at the listening party - the track instantly gave me the impression that it's the end credits to Boards Of Canada as a project (sorry to anyone who hadn't considered this and finds the idea super depressing). It reminds me of the end of a video game where you kinda see a bit of all the levels you played through accompanied by a little reprise of all the music. "hey guys, remember all those good times we had? Anyway, goodbye!"

This observation from the "Controversial Opinions" thread has helped me understand what has been bothering me about YRITAS.

We're in a totally different time now from when their earlier albums were made and it's hard to see any significant return to their 'lighter'/less heavy side any time soon. Not that that's a good or bad thing, just different and comes with a different emotional punch. There are still glimpses of it throughout Inferno though for sure, that's one of things that makes You Retreat In Time and Space in so poignant.

The self-referential side of the track is absolutely deliberate. It could have fit better on an earlier record in some respects, and intentionally feels like it has been beamed in from a different, more innocent time. The fact that it is slightly jarring is a sign of how much darker and more complicated our lives have become in the past 25-30 years. It sounds out of place/time because those sounds and emotions don't fit our broken world. All we can feel now is sadness at what has been lost - that sense of joy, contentment and security.

I do quite like the idea that it's a deliberate juxtaposition and throwback to the past and "halcyon days". I'd be more inclined to think of "youthful days of innocence" than "less dark" or even "less complicated" times, though - some of the more horrific samples on the record date back to the 1970s, and of course religion has been used as a force for evil since time immemorial, so I'd be surprised if the message was supposed to be "everything was hunky dory before 2006 / 1996".

I think the 8mm-style home video of kids running around playing (which was shown during this track at the Inferno Sessions) could support either of the above interpretations - for sure it's brazenly, unapologetically self referential - but also kind of implies that youth is the only break from all the darkness.

Anyway, even if they give an interview in 6 months where they cynically state "yeah that track was pure fan service to bring the run time of the album up / try and get us some money off Spotify" my reaction would still be "yeah - good job - nobody does it like you."

[fujee]

Well, I'm glad I said what I said because everything written above is excellent. The video game credit theory is quite convincing to me, though I'd struggle with the track on its own. I've always felt they (either directly or via Warp) would tell us the band was done rather than leaving it open to interpretation. I think the track would land differently if I knew it was intended as an epilogue.

[Cupz]

End of an era, for sure. It is almost like a boc sound-design medley, but to feels more like the end of a chapter than the end of a book (and I feel we have some deliciously independent boc to look out for). Maybe end of their warp days and now they can spread the project's wings further? I agree with fujee, if it really was the final LP, warp would have had a field day with that fact during pre-release.

idk maybe I'm hopeful. Maybe they've finally finished that damn road-trip movie?