Day 6: a song that reminds me of somewhere—Roygbiv
30 days of music, but only Boards of Canada, day 6.
I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Boards of Canada: the computer labs half way up Appleton Tower. It was 1998 and, for the first time, I was let loose with a T1 connection. The Edinburgh University IT admins hadn't figured out Napster and Quake II yet.
I was there to do a Computer Science and AI degree but my actual education was self-administered, as it had been since I first had access to a modem. One afternoon Roygbiv landed in my Pegasus Mail email inbox via the university's Lewis email server (which were all named after Scottish islands.) Music Has the Right to Children was not long released, and Paul was on the case. Thanks, Paul.
Roygbiv has always been an outlier in the BoC pantheon—to my ears, anyway. Melodic. Catchy, even. Big fruity bass. Big crunchy drums. Earworm. Simple—perhaps deceptively so. But clean. Polished. Unbroken. And therefore unusual. For years, it was the BoC track you played to people that didn't know BoC yet, and it never failed to captivate the discerning ear. Some music evokes a weak visual synesthesia in me. Roygbiv is vivid orange.
For years it was one of my favourites. Inevitably, after years of listening, the bangers make way for more subtle fare to bed in as favourites. Your Roygbivs give way to your Telephasic Workshops, your 1969s to your Alpha and Omegas. But Roygbiv will always be special.
I've heard it so many times it's in my bones. I don't need to hear it to write about it.