Hail to the Thief, Radiohead’s new album is a record that incorporates its earlier guitar-rock into a sound that is increasingly experimental and unconventional. Probably. Like the group’s previous albums Kid A and Amnesiac, its newest offering is available weeks before it is scheduled for release. While possibly not the final polished versions that will appear on the album, the tracks offer fans a preview of what Radiohead has in store.
The early leak of the album has elicited a mixed response, with many concerned that these were not the final mastered tracks. On the messageboard on the band’s official website, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich confirmed this suspicion, saying “It’s the rough mixes … some tracks are not even finished. Not really what I’d like to hear, frankly.”
The album which is scheduled for release on Capitol Records on June 10 in the United States, marks a new step for the band. Thom Yorke (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar), Ed O’Brien (rhythm guitar, back up vocals, percussion), Colin Greenwood (bass) and Phil Selway (drums) have produced an exciting follow-up to 2001’s Amnesiac. Thief is energetic and upbeat at times, while maintaning the anxiety in their mournful, desolate sound for which the band is known.
The album pops with surprising energy and urgency-kicking off with “2+2=5,” a piece in which York’s demanding voice wails amidst frenetic drums, needling itself into your brain. The second song, “Sit Down, Stand Up,” starts out moody and slow, but builds to an exhilarating crescendo of a breathy chorus. Rarely has Yorke’s voice sounded so compellingly urgent. “Go To Sleep” is a surprisingly folksy tune full of acoustic guitar. “Myxomatosis,” an odd little number about a disease that threatens rabbits, features halting lyrics and heavy guitar fuzz that produces a swirl of anxiety in the listener, and shows the band’s commitment to championing obscure rabbit diseases as well as their politics. The slow yet steady zombie-like clapping in “We Suck Young Blood” (an earthy touch for the normally electronic-happy group) settles the listener into a state of weariness. A discordant climax of instruments, however, jolts one awake again. These songs end more with bangs than with whimpers; it is exhilarating to hear the band experiment with a newfound sense of pressure.
But, as this is Radiohead, there are also some gorgeous, desolate songs that nearly break with longing and sadness. “I Will” is the most haunting. This song, a moving antiwar anthem, has spare lyrics (I will / lay me down / in a bunker underground / I won’t let this happen to my children) but nonetheless packs an emotional punch. “The Gloaming” is reminiscent of 1997’s OK Computer in the experimentation with various instruments. The result is a song that sounds like musically arranged static with little pops and fizzes bursting into your ear. It ends with the line “this is the-” which speaks to the impossibility of communication, a classic Radiohead theme.
Perhaps the most experimental song on this album is the last one, “A Wolf at the Door.” Yorke speaks rather than sings his lines, the closest Radiohead will ever get to rapping a song. The sturdiness of his spoken voice, compared to the delicate wavering of his singing voice, seems appropriate to an album experimenting with energy and urgency.
Radiohead has proven itself in the past to be a constantly evolving band. Hail to the Thief is an album that succeeds in adding new elements to the band’s sound while retaining the essential spirit that makes it so unique.
The album is available at http://www.idioteque.it/multimedia/ audio.htm. It will be released June 10 on Capitol Records.
