The Boats - Tomorrow Time

The Boats Archive - LP

UK, 2006 / 2017

Downtempo / Ambient / Leftfield

Starting the Christmas season - whatever that means - with this record, fittingly covered in red pine trees in an abstract snowy landscape, makes me realize that, no matter how I'm proverbially dreaded by Christmas, there are a handful of Christmas records I love, and often go back to in the short days that surround the winter solstice. Hopefully, I'll post a few of them before the end of the year.

Tomorrow Time crackles like a warm fireplace. The Manchester duo plays around with tropes of their times (the mid-00's): MPC gimmicks, glitchy sounds and out-of-tunes synth toys, but they all blend seamlessly in a quiet, blank canvas; an LP that offers a set of proper winter songs, not just soft electronica instrumentals. 

Some of the stand-out tracks, "Industrial Violence, Venus And Mars, When Planets Collide???" or "Go To Sleep (Or I'll Put You To Sleep)", have that slightly gloomy, lamenting quality of ancient carols or yiddish songs. And that's exactly the emotional shades I associate with the season. But The Boats sublimate the occasional seasonal forlornness into tiny, washed-out imaginary folk tunes, that oscillate like lit menorahs behind frosted windows. (VG+/VG+ very clean copy)