Radiohead: In Rainbows
Wednesday, 10 Oct 2007 12:59
The outstanding In Rainbows is available to download from a specially designed website
Download only release October 10th, discbox set out December 3rd.
In a nutshell…
Paranoid, panicked, paralysed genius
What's it all about?
Ten years have passed since the release of OK Computer, the band's creative peak which ripped the heart out of Britpop. By then Thom Yorke, Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway had already made an album consistently breaking into top ten 'greatest ever' votes in The Bends, but the likes of Exit Music (For A Film) and Lucky saw them developing a startlingly different sound to their contemporaries.
A long wait ensued for the follow-up and, with immense pressure on the band, lengthy sessions produced Kid A and Amnesiac. The former initially shed millions of fans – guitar riffs were extremely thin on the ground – but the cohesiveness of its ambient-tinged mood eventually made it recognised as one of the band's best records.
Album number six appeared to mark a logical end of the line for Yorke and co as Hail To The Thief incorporated elements from all their previous works. The creepy arpeggios of Paranoid Android appeared again on There There, while The Bends' distinctive guitar sound made a guest appearance on Go To Sleep. Increasing flirtations with electronica were becoming more prominent. How to follow this up? A HTTT volume two would have been unacceptable for a band so used to musical progression between records. Fans eagerly awaited the answer, which came in the form of an email early this morning.
Who's it by?
The seventh studio album from Oxford oddballs Radiohead is their first release without a record label. Freed of deadline constraints, the band have spent three whole years working up to the follow-up to Hail To The Thief. Unsurprisingly they have used their lack of support from a label to their advantage, generating vast amount of headlines by letting fans choose how much they pay for the album in its download-only format.
According to reports the ploy appears to be working. Many are paying normal retail prices rather than entering a lower amount into the blank price field, while teenagers across the land will be gearing up to get their parents to fork out £40 for the deluxe discbox set due in time for Christmas. But is this a tad expensive? Prior to its release there were many question marks about the band's musical direction and fears that they may have been past their best. Is In Rainbows really worth it?
"Well, the new album is finished", Jonny Greenwood writes on the Radiohead website in the band's offhand way, encapsulating the confident air in which the record has been put out. They are relying on the quality of the album justifying this confidence.
As an example…
"In the bottom of the ocean/ The deep blue sea/ Your bright blue eyes/ Turn me" – Weird Fish/Arpeggi
"No matter what happens now/ You shouldn't be afraid/ Because I know today has been the most perfect day/ I've been asleep" - Videotape
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
This album should win every award. Ever.
What the others say
"This insidious index of sonic surprises is stacking up in my mind, like planes waiting to land" – Times Online
"The mesmerising and psychedelic noises in the background develop like a dream" – Gigwise on House of Cards
So is it any good?
In Rainbows is Radiohead's most successful attempt to evoke their distinctively edgy atmosphere. Where the band have had a tendency to veer into the ridiculous on occasions – Pyramid Song comes to mind – their seventh album is sublime in its mood-setting achievement. Subtlety is at the heart of its success. Unlike on Hail To The Thief, the band never truly rock out as they did in There There – that only happens once a decade nowadays, it seems – while the tracks are kept short and excesses into the band's particular sub-genres are curtailed. The end product is all the more powerful as a result.
Radiohead have been in the spine-tingling business for years now and, as Thom Yorke's solo effort The Eraser showed, are capable of knocking off creepy tracks in their sleep. In Rainbows sees the band deploy all their tried-and-tested tricks to much greater effect than ever before, however. A scary bass line contrasts with the disconcertingly innocent glockenspiel line on All I Need. Fast-paced tempos belie a much slower underlying vocal line on Weird Fishes/Arpeggi. And the off-beat drums which close the record on Videotape are enough to reduce already wobbly listeners into fits of paranoia. Another job done, it seems.
But In Rainbows seems much more than just another Radiohead record. Having opened with the tumult of 15 Step and Bodysnatchers, it soon settles into the kind of peaceful, worried panic which Radiohead do better than anyone else in the industry. A greater reliance on crystal-clear strings, seen fleetingly on Kid A, creates a welcome sense of fragility. But it is the overriding feeling of muted dread which creates the album's dominant, and scintillating, tension. This is Radiohead's triumph.
9/10
Alex Stevenson
"I am currently listening to the album for the first time as i write this now. I'm on Jigsaw Falling Into Place and GOD is this album just beautiful. I really think they've done it - haven't had this large of a smile on my face since I was singing back to Optimistic on Kid A. This album truly gives of a sense of accomplishment for not just the band, but for the fans for we all finally know; we are complete" - Scott Davis