Sic Semper Tyrannis

Radiohead's In Rainbows

Everybody’s talking about it. This is one of the rare instances in which I am current with public musical concerns. I bought the new Radiohead album about a week ago and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I can’t seem to listen to it enough! I have been ambivalent at best with the last two albums but this one is holding my interest. Here are a few details about why.

Overall, this new album has a more human feel than the last couple, due to the strange presence of organic, acoustic-based sounds like guitars and real drums and orchestral strings. And the element that goes hand-in-hand with these? Dynamics. As I mentioned the last time I wrote about Amnesiac, this dynamism has been sorely missing from Radiohead’s output as of late, as their primary compositional method has obviously been computerized sequencing. A lot of the songs on this new album go from soft to loud and all points in between, thanks largely to real drums, a real room, and real cymbals. I’m discovering as of late how important cymbals are to the overall level of intensity for a song.

For me, this new, (well, old, actually), approach is displayed in microcosm on the song “Nude.” On this song you hear a lot of unoccupied SPACE between the phrases. A previous version of the band would have filled these spaces with digital bleeps and bloops. Another song on this album serves as a fine metaphor for where the band’s collective mind is at: “House of Cards.” This song, positively upbeat for Radiohead, starts with a comping guitar line that sounds like it could be any number of Jack Jackson songs. But all similarities to pop puff pastry end at the exact point that the wall of reverb and weird noises enter. And in my estimation, that has been Radiohead’s task for the last few years—a deconstruction of pop music by way of electronica. In my eyes, that’s completely cool, reasonable, and maybe even necessary. Which isn’t to say that I have to love the results. But with this album, they seem to be going about the task of rebuilding the wreckage, as all of the songs on In Rainbows are pretty much immediately accessible.

Some other random notes:
“Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”- sounds like the most beautiful Dismemberment Plan song ever written by Radiohead.

“All I Need”- only a band like Radiohead could deliver such a sweet, romantic sentiment couched in such creepiness. And I mean that literally and figuratively, as the idea of self-loathing, unfulfilled love was the glue that also held their first hit “Creep” together.

The songs “Faust Arp” and “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” feature sophisticated harmonic progressions and, as Amanda mentioned, a sound that hasn’t been associated with Radiohead for a long time—acoustic guitar.

Finally, “Videotape.” This is yet another weepy song, fairly simple and largely piano-led. But the genius of this song is the drum programming that acts as a foil to the insistent piano theme. The two drum notes are slowly ornamented over time, (a la a host of minimalist composers), and then finally give way to some start-stop rhythms that feel a little off-kilter. The tension this all provides is just marvelous! And I think it makes for a beautifully ghostly end to a great album.

posted by Mike @ 7:10 AM