by Jason Hicks
A new Radiohead album is basically the hipster equivalent of Christmas morning, an event which is unparalleled throughout the year. In fact it could be argued that the release of the band's 1997 album, OK Computer, was the genesis of the much maligned (and secretly envied) modern hipster universe. So when it was announced last year that the band was back in the studio and a new album could emerge by the end of 2010, there was much rejoicing in enclaves from Williamsburg to Silver Lake. Alas, it was not to be and the new year came without so much of a peep from the Radiohead camp. But then on Valentine's Day the band issued a statement that not only was the new album done, but that it would be called The King of Limbs and available for purchase as a digital download a mere five days later. This time around the band decided to forgo its paradigm busting "pay what you want" pricing scheme and offered the downloads at typical rates as well as a deluxe "newspaper album" physical release, whatever that means.
A Radiohead album takes some time to digest, but after having lived with it for a couple of weeks enough initial impressions have solidified into a few concrete opinions. The first most striking thing is that The King of Limbs offers a scant 37 minute run time. Which in and of itself is fine by me, in fact I'll take a 40 minute "all killer no filler" album over a 78 minute bloated mess any day of the week. The second thing that grabbed my ear was that this did not sound like the work of a band with five members, but resembled singer Thom Yorke's 2006 solo album The Eraser much more than any other previous Radiohead album. Especially throughout the album's first half, which is comprised mainly of atmospheric electronic pieces rather than full band compositions.
Now obviously I don't know what happened at the TKOL sessions, but what I can hear for myself is that many of the tracks don't have real drums or much in the way of guitars. If you've ever seen Radiohead live you know that guitarist Johnny Greenwood spends a good deal of his time playing synths and manipulating samples. So it seems likely that he was very involved, but as for the rest of the band their audible absence does hang like a question mark over the proceedings. Not only that, but the style of the songs in the first half is very much in keeping with the themes and overall feeling of The Eraser, which was billed as solely performed by Thom Yorke. Take the first four songs of TKOL and mix them into The Eraser playlist and the consistency in the way they sound is fairly striking.
Those first four songs are interesting, but they do have a demo-like quality, seeming like sketches of ideas that haven't quite come to their complete fruition. Out of those tracks "Feral" probably works the best, although it could be argued that the song is a Burial rip off, the dubstep artist that Yorke has vocally championed. That aside, its busy beats and vaguely Middle Eastern vocal samples combine to create a coherent mood and vivid musical image. When the lead single of "Lotus Flower" starts up with slippery beats and hand claps, the second half of the album begins and we are back in territory that is at least reminiscent of Radiohead. The mix isn't quite as sparse and more linear songwriting comes to the forefront. "Lotus Flower" also features some of the few intelligible vocals on the album. On many of the other songs the lyrics are so obscured, both by effects and lack of enunciation, that it feels as though Yorke is going for a "post-lyrical" approach. By emphasizing the sound of his voice over the actual words, the vocals become just another instrument, which is an intriguing choice.
From there the album closes things out with a very strong run of three songs, moving from a stark piano ballad in the vein of "Pyramid Song" on "Codex", the delicately beautiful "Give Up the Ghost" and then concludes with "Separator", which stands as the set's most fully realized song. Not only does it sound like it features real bass, but the guitar that creeps in toward the end of the track could almost be called a riff. Even though the drums are looped it sounds like they were played by drummer Phil Selway, and it's the only track for which I can say that his style is apparent.
All in all you have to hand it to Yorke for continuing to push Radiohead, whoever they are at this point, forward and continually upping the ante and challenging their fans with each release. The album does feel rather slight, both because of its content and running time, but I felt the same way about The Eraser at first and have developed a deeper appreciation for it since. At the very least one thing is clear, Yorke will continue to keep us all guessing as to what the future of Radiohead may hold.
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