Boards of Canada Condemn Unauthorized Use of Music by White House
Boards of Canada have joined the growing roster of artists distancing themselves from the current administration’s digital strategy. On Thursday (May 28), the reclusive Scottish electronic duo and their label, Warp Records, issued a firm statement rebuking the White House for featuring the group’s music in a recent promotional video without permission.
The track in question, “Deep Time,” hails from Inferno—the duo’s first studio album in over a decade. In the brief, 15-second clip, the song provides a haunting, atmospheric backdrop to a montage of stark imagery, including a weathered American flag, official presidential insignias, and footage of border patrol operations and detention facilities.
The White House provided no context for the footage, pairing the unsettling visuals with a cryptic shifty-eyes emoji. This instance mirrors a wider trend of the administration utilizing popular music to boost social media engagement, frequently disregarding the consent of the creators involved.
Beyond the unauthorized sync, many fans were quick to point out that the video appeared to mimic the band’s signature lo-fi, glitchy, VHS-inspired visual aesthetic. The resulting backlash from the online community was swift, with numerous fans calling for the artists to take legal action against the administration.
In a formal statement provided to Billboard, a representative for Warp Records clarified the band’s stance: “Neither the label nor the artists—Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin—condone the unauthorized use of their music for political messaging.” At the time of reporting, the White House has yet to respond to requests for comment.
Boards of Canada are the latest addition to a long list of high-profile musicians who have publicly contested the use of their intellectual property in political marketing. This roster includes diverse acts such as The White Stripes, Celine Dion, Foo Fighters, Neil Young, and Rihanna, all of whom have sought to prevent their art from being co-opted for political optics.
