Radiohead - In Rainbows

Mon 21st Jan, 2008 in Music Reviews

“We operate like the United Nations, and I’m America”. It would be easy to write off Radiohead as a pretentious crank of a band if you avoid picking up on Thom Yorke’s often cynical and world weary humour.

However, Radiohead are a band of many freedoms and are not afraid of branching out. Radiohead morosely stumbled onto the world stage with 1993’s Pablo Honey and proceeded to make most people feel a bit more glum at the prospect of young adulthood with the epic song Creep. For some unfathomable reason the song was a huge hit in Israel but despite the support of the land with the troubled borders people touted Radiohead as a melancholy one hit wonder. When Radiohead bounded back out onto the stage, composed of what seemed like a sneering but likeable confidence with 1995’s The Bends, everything changed and the band hasn’t lost its fame or indeed talent since.

In Rainbows is the latest and possibly greatest album conceived by Radiohead. The album itself was an anomaly before it even found its way to the ears of the public. The album was released without the aid of any record company and was available to be downloaded for the price of “whatever you decided”. Despite what would appear to be terrible marketing sense, they still made $10 million which went straight into the band’s pockets instead of grinning record executives. They really have hit the nail right on the head. Unlike this review however, the mind numbing clichés are nowhere to be found in this new assortment of songs. The album opens with what can only be described as a jagged and busy electronic boosted beat. Immediately the listener is drawn to the idea that this is just another late Radiohead album, inaccessible to those who don’t have an illicit substance pinballing from synapse to synapse. However there is a pleasant change as Thom Yorke’s melodic glutton of a voice proceeds to blow away these anxieties with a pleasant but ultimately indecipherable deluge over the drums. Despite the confusing nature of what he is actually saying, the sound is indeed wonderfully catchy and distracts us until the mellow chord work comes in. “It’s obvious” you think, this album is off to a good start.

Of course the goodness doesn’t stop there. Song number two Bodysnatchers really does just as the title proclaims. You are led quietly into a room where the band proceed to blast you with a distorted guitar riff that softly eases you into a cowering ball while Yorke glumly berates you with his voice switching between monotone and operatic. “I have no idea what you are talking about!” shouts Yorke. A break from the distortion is granted as Yorke’s voice and a dreamy, reverb laden guitar take you off into a swirling journey and then bump you smartly back into reality again. It’s just plain brilliant.

Nude and Weird Fishes/Arpeggi are both more laidback songs, Nude with its subtle crooning and bass throb and Weird Fishes/Arpeggi with its instantly likeable arpeggio style and beautiful chord progression. The album grows more eclectic around the middle to late stages but still retains its integrity and catchyness. As if too alert you to this fact Yorke reminds us “Wakey wakey, rise and shine” at the beginning of Faust Arp a song which implements a clever arpeggio style similar to Weird Fishes/Arpeggi but also incorporates a soaring violin accompaniment. If you keep alert you do get too see the beautiful side of the album. Reckoner focuses on Yorke’s own voice which is as important to Radiohead’s sound as Johnny Greenwood and Ed O’Briens’ guitar work. The third last and second last songs of the album House of Cards and Jigsaw Falling into Place seem to tackle the ever present concept of love and lust which is the signature fill of almost all modern music. Jigsaw Falling into Place is a particularly incredible song and just by itself negates the cost of the album, unless you didn’t pay anything for it in the first place. Jigsaw Falling into Place is a blatant break up song but done in a Radiohead style. The song itself is rather busy on the rhythm front but Yorke ties it all together, as he usually does. The lines “she looks back, you look back, not just once, not just twice” echoes the significance of many lost high school romances.

The album eventually winds up with the song _videotap_e. To seasoned Radiohead fans the haunting piano instantly harks back to Pyramid Song from Amnesiac. The song itself is a good finishing piece, the ghostly wailing and the clattering drum loop signal that yes the album has come to an end. If that’s not enough Yorke singing “This is my way of saying goodbye” ends the album on a sad yet hopeful note.

Already it’s obvious that Radiohead are approaching this album from a different direction. The fact that you can get halfway through the album and not wind up crying hysterically with confusion and boredom is an immediate sign. It seems that through an act of philanthropy, Radiohead have decided to make this album a bit more accessible. In Rainbows combines the rock feel from The Bends, the beautiful die cast cynicism of Ok Computer and the electronic haberdashery of Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief. It’s looking like quite a possibility that In Rainbows may be the perfect Radiohead album. It invites in Radiohead fans of all the genres. The lovers of The Bends and the analytical appreciators of Kid A all have fun here. In Rainbows even opens the door for new fans to step in. Unlike the rest of us, who stepped on at The Bends or Ok Computer and then grappled our way through the later albums, In Rainbows is creative enough to draw people into the majesty of Radiohead and accessible enough to allow them to understand why they like it.