In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country sums up Boards of Canada in an easy 24 minutes. Like their albums, half of this is pretty solid, while the other half consists of pieces that sound like unrealized sketches a better artist wouldn’t have thought fit to release, or at least to drag out for over a minute. Maybe I’m being generous, as I probably like less than half of most Boards of Canada albums.

In this case, it’s “Kid for Today” and “Amo Bishop Roden” that are the highlights. “Zoetrope” is another sketch, but it’s a pleasant enough sound, at least. Due to the short running time, this EP also doesn’t drain on me like their overextended albums can, so I’d say this is their second best behind The Campfire Headphase, though obviously anyone who actually likes BoC wouldn’t want my advice on them, so whatever.