While drummer/multi-instrumentalist Cale Parks remained an active quarter of long-running post-rock group Aloha, he launched a similarly exploratory solo career in the late 2000s that applied his rhythmic sensibilities and flare for imaginative percussion to warm ambient pop songs. Over the next decade plus, Parks' muse would shift from straightforward electronic songcraft to more synth pop-oriented material and eventually land on the icy, techno-adjacent synth instrumentals of his 2015 EP Lagoon Fool. Five years later, Boards follows those instrumental paths into more spacious territory, combining warm synths and electronic elements with organic instruments for a collection that glides from one idea to the next. The colorful palette used on Boards is apparent from the start. Album opener "Late Ape" brings together a crackling snare pulse with airy pads and interlocking melodies played on piano, synth, and guitar. The pensively wandering sounds are all held together by a liquid electric bass tone that would sound at home on a Tame Impala record. Interplay between reverby surf guitars and gentle acoustic lead lines creates a restless mood on "Outermost," while looping vocal samples fade in and out of the mix, recalling the cinematic sheen of Art of Noise or Air. As the collection goes on, Parks explores moments of uplifting pop and relaxed ambient interludes. The patient, Eno-esque piano of "Coolhouse" opens up into old-school drum programming and neon synth tones on "SY99," all guided by Parks' understated rhythmic presence. Guest guitarist Zach Curd shows up to add a proggy nervousness to the title track, and Aloha's Tony Cavallario contributes guitar to the slinking finale, "Quiet Storm." Watching Parks' solo work morph subtly over its various phases is fascinating, and these six sophisticated instrumentals are so far removed from his early ambient pop output that it's almost hard to imagine they were made by the same artist. Boards offers another expansive chapter of this continuous development, one that promises to never stay in the same place too long.