Radiohead are known for surprising the music community. Their 2007 release ‘In Rainbows’ gave fans the opportunity to purchase the album from the band’s website at whatever cost was seen fit, the first time anything of the like had been attempted in the music industry. It was somewhat of an attempt to make known the influence of the electronic age in music and how the Internet has influenced the purchasing power of the consumer in releasing a record. The album itself also incorporated far more electronic methods of songwriting than anything Radiohead have produced in their career as a collective release. This album followed on from Thom Yorke’s solo release ‘The Eraser’ in the previous year, which gave the listening public into an electronic world and most likely gave a great indication into what fans may expect from the forthcoming Radiohead record.
Fast forward to 2011, and Radiohead surprise the music community once more with the announcement of their 8th studio album ‘The King of Limbs’, largely without fanfare, to be released on the 19th of February through their website. Three weeks on from its release and it appears the immediate attraction surrounding ‘The King of Limbs’ has massively died down, allowing perhaps for more accurate analysis of the album and its impact. Impact is something that challenges a band such as Radiohead, with their previous attempts marking the amount of pressure on them to release timeless music with each record they produce. However, ‘The King of Limbs’ does not quite have that ear-catching effect that even its predecessor carried.
This is not to take anything away from the brilliance of the album as a creative effort. Opener ‘Bloom’, with its off-kilter rhythm and scattered electronic samples, creates a completely different feel to any other Radiohead albums as the band veer off into more experimental soundscapes. This is continued with ‘Morning Mr Magpie’ with its muted guitar rhythms rooting a far deeper, darker sound even to that of ‘In Rainbows’. This darkened atmosphere shines through on the majority of ‘The King of Limbs’, as much as perhaps Yorke may attempt to conceal this feeling through his conceited vocal effort. Two tracks that go against the grain in this sense are 'Little By Little' and 'Give Up The Ghost'. The latter is quite possibly the album stand out, with a clear and concerted effort on adapting the right instrumentation to build the song adequately. The lyric “Don’t haunt me” is repeated throughout the track in an ironically haunting manner, with Yorke mildly expressing fears of past experiences over lush acoustics and bold brass notes that truly give the song an overcoming feeling.
‘Lotus Flower’ is perhaps the only track, other than ‘Give Up The Ghost’, that is truly memorable on ‘The King of Limbs’ as a result of its prevalent mix of new and old Radiohead with a powerful vocal performance (and dance style that can be witnessed in the video below) from Yorke. That seems to be the moral of the story here; Radiohead are at their best when Thom Yorke’s voice is soaring, demanding the listener’s full attention rather than simply blending in to the mix as a useless instrument. Album closer ‘Separator’ ends ‘The King of Limbs’ strangely. As ‘Give Up The Ghost’ concludes, it almost feels like the album is ready to kick-start again with the up-tempo song, but, coming in as the 8th track on the record, that is where ‘The King of Limbs’ ends.
At the end of the day we are left with a record that is simply good but not great. ‘The King of Limbs’ may be remembered for being an album in where Radiohead took some risks with the adaptation of their sound, but it can be assured the die-hard fans will love every minute of this new chapter in the band’s career. The phenomenon of its release has been and gone, so how long this album will remain a prominent fixture in the music world in 2011 is yet to be known. What is certain though is that Radiohead continue to carry an element of surprise with their every release, and it is often the unexpected nature of their music that can be most appreciated on the whole.
- We can only hope for a Radiohead Australian jaunt in the near future, and, if some rumours are to be believed, it is certainly in the band's planning to come to the country perhaps in the next year. The King of Limbs will be released on CD and 12" vinyl on March 28.
No comments:
Post a Comment