65 times. 155 minutes. 2.5 hours.
Roygbiv is a masterpiece. It was my most listened to song in 2022, as per Spotify’s stats, and easily ranks in my top 10 of all time.
Expertly produced and mixed, the song begins with a simple, yet incredibly memorable, bass-line. The song slowly progresses, adding in the percussive elements and top synth at perfect intervals. Once all assembled, the slow fade out always leaves me wanting more [see Alpha Quest’s mix for a longer version].
My fascination with Boards of Canada began with this song. To me they represent the perfect electronic rockstars, as a duo shrouded by mystery and with very few public releases to their name; defining a whole genre [IDM] with their sound. With no public appearances since April 2001, Marcus and Michael created a sound so unique and personal, it hasn’t been copied since. There were other artists, namely Aphex Twin, The Future Sound Of London and Squarepusher, but no-one could replicate the sounds of the Hexagon Sun.
Albums such as Geogaddi, The Campfire Headphase & Music Has The Right To Children juxtapose hopeful and uplifting compositions with eerily disturbing tracks and [occasional + alleged] Satanic subliminal messaging. They explore themes of humanity, maths, science, nature and most importantly childhood. The duo set out to create songs which reminded them of their youth, echoing times when they messed around with botched recording equipment. In fact, both their logo and name were derived from the National Film Board of Canada, a media producer prominent in Marcus and Michael’s childhood. In doing so, a friendliness/warmth is created though both the sound-design and post-processing. Yet this can shift at any moment to something much darker.
Of course, the production is insane. There is extreme attention to detail on elements such as sound-staging/panning, processing and mixing thus creating an epic cinematic feel. They are best listened to in their entirety, generally spanning only one hour. The duo carved out their own style in the world of electronic music, often sampling their TV/radio for both background noise and original samples. The end result is hazy, messy and fuzzy. But it works.
But the real reason they excite me is their lack of public imagine. Much like Pink Floyd, the two stayed away from many interviews and public performances. With only a handful of live performances [12], they kept both their identities and music close to their chest. There was a sense they were above it all: releasing only a select few songs to the public when they deemed fit. It was clear they weren’t doing it for the money or fame, setting up their own label to release their first few albums and EPs; such as BoC Maxima. A total of 5 albums are known about and are not released, originally given to friends and family in the bands early days. After their Peel Session covers, the two have remixed only a handful of songs and are no longer really heard from.
The duo has had their fair share of controversy, though. They have been associated with subliminal Satanic worship practices in their music. Some of the evidence is tenuous and mostly relates to Geogaddi:
- The album file is 666 mb
- It is 66:06 in length
- Some of the processed vocals on the track say “A God with hooves” & “A God with horns”
As I said: tenuous; at best. But when you listen to the album, it is some of the most haunting music you will hear. People across the internet [including myself] have desperately combed through the album for a deeper meaning. Some liken it to libertarianism, others Satanism, others death. The album doesn’t cleanly present itself with a monolithic meaning; unlike other ambient works which look to explore a certain topic [for example, see: The Caretaker, Everywhere at the End of Time. Explores old age and dementia in a fantastic way. Deserves its own post soon]. People have assigned their own meaning to the album, sharing their thoughts and findings on WATMM or BOC subreddit. Not one theory is considered universal today.
The rest of this post will explore Roygbiv specifically, noting some facts and points which I have collated over my time researching.
There are 2 versions of Roygbiv: one initially released on BoC Maxima [1996] & then later Music Has The Right To Children [1998], and the other termed Roygbiv (Alpha Quest Mix).
Roygbiv:
The song is 2:23 long.
Simply, the title refers to Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain; or the order of the colours in a rainbow.
The song has a repeating voice saying “Lake”: see sample from Sesame Street, episode 2852 at 11:36.
Some other sources say the melodic trill is also from this episode, I can’t hear it necessarily.
[loads of other Music Has The Right To Children Samples are though: including The Colour Of Fire whole vocal (11:34), “Orange!” & “Yeah, thats right!” from Aquarius (8:48) and an audio sample for Wildlife Analysis (49:40) if you slow the audio by 15.86 semitones. Full link: https://youtu.be/9j4kXWTJXLE ]
Heard in That Mitchell and Webb Look, season 2 episode 3!
Heavily influenced by music used in Canadian public broadcasts in the late 1970s/early 80s. Specifically, this theme to the TVOntario show Realities [clip from 1984]:
Roygbiv (Alpha Quest Mix):
Lyrics: Doorways up and down the hall
Wonder what’s behind them all
Doors that lead to anywhere
Got to A, B, C, what’s there
Got to A, B, C, decide
Where’s the door I haven’t tried
A, B, C, D, East and West
Going on an Alphaquest!
This song is 6:16 long (!), starting with the entirety of Bocuma [also released on Music Has The Right To Children].
The special remix was completed – presumably Thursday, 15th May 1997 – for someone called Andy Soosay, who used it in one of his student films at university; most likely at the University of Edinburgh where both brothers studies [Marcus dropped out before completing his degree]. This was later leaked onto the internet, I am unsure of the exact date it was released.
The song’s legitimacy is backed up by photos of the original DAT file, with some banter placed on the front cover.
The song contains another sample from the same Sesame Street, episode 2852 as before. They extract the song from 49:15, in addition to the lake sample used previously.
A truly amazing find.
Most of the research was collected through various interviews and online sources. unamusedpirate has a brilliant video on the duo, called “This is Hexagon Sun: A Video on Boards of Canada”. There is also an amazing [unofficial] Boards of Canada Wiki, with some fantastic depth. A list of interviews can be found there. Also see John Peel session on 21 July 1998.
Tommy Nagle 
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