I was going to have this blog entry all set up and ready for Saturday morning (19th January) as it was supposed to be the actual release date of the album, but for the second time this week, Thom Yorke has pulled the rug from the entirety of music journalism in the UK, maybe the world.
The eighth studio album from Radiohead - 'The King Of Limbs' is out now, 24 hours earlier than expected. It was announced Monday morning and caught a lot of music websites and publications out, as many thought it wouldnt be around untill the autumn.
But is this the best way to publicise a new record? Granted it certainly breaks from the traditional format of releasing a new album, where promo copies are sent to journalists about six - eight weeks ahead of scheduled release for review, the first single is normally sent to radio about four-five weeks before its release – usually a week prior to the album launch.
What a lot of artists have been doing recently is making their single / album launch an event – Lady Gaga, The Strokes and now Radiohead have recently released new material, often with different amounts of 'warning time'; The Strokes and Gaga gave a couple of weeks notice before their singles were heard on the radio (and available for download straight away), but Radiohead put a tweet out on the Monday before a Friday release.
In terms of PR, making a release into an event works well for the bigger artists and musicians to the point where they don’t need that much help from a major label, as often a lot of hype and online media attention is afforded to the bigger artists, because online it is seemingly important to have the information available to your readers first.
This week has seen Radiohead pose in front of a tree (named The King of Limbs, in Wiltshire’s Savernake Forest) that some fans have travelled to visit, in order to search for clues about the record, or maybe even some other reward.
Anyway, these are my thoughts, based on my first listen of ‘The King Of Limbs’:
Bloom
A distorted piano and drum loop, this isn’t going to be a traditional Radiohead track; instead it sounds like something that Burial or the upcoming James Blake has worked on. Yorke’s familiar vocal kicks in after a minute, as he sings “don’t blow your mind with wires” and later “televisiual bile” yet on the first listen it’s not possible to pick up exactly what’s going on.
Morning Mr Magpie
Straight in with a catchier loop, it’s beginning to look like this will sit closer to The Eraser (Thom Yorke’s solo record) The vocals are easier to interpret here - “Good morning Mr Magpie / How are we today? / Now you’ve stolen all the magic / Took my melody” and on surface level this seems to be about somebody (or something) who has stolen something, or possibly some kind of sample robbery.
Little By Little
Thankfully this isn’t an Oasis cover. It is more of a “Radiohead sounding song” (if that’s something you can ever quantify). The chorus stands out "Over and over / goodbye crew / Never let anyone from this mirror / get judged" (well at least that’s what I think the lyrics were on a first listen!)
Feral
The synthy-drumbeats are now seemingly a theme throughout this record; this is arguably the most avant-garde Radiohead album since Kid A. This is the shortest track on the album at a touch over three minutes, it doesn’t feel quite long enough to connect with yet.
Lotus Flower
I think this is meant to be the lead track (dare I say single? probably not!) from The King Of Limbs as there was a video released online shortly before the download was available. Yorke sings “There’s an empty space inside my heart / there’s the wings too / so that I set you free“ and this is possibly the bridge from last album In Rainbows, also my favourite track so far.
Codex
Slow piano intro, sounds almost space-like. “Sleight of hand / Jump off the end / into a clear lake / no one around”. This is more like the Radiohead that people will know, and would have fitted in nicely with tracks like 'I Will' or ‘Sail To The Moon’ from Hail To The Thief. At the end is some weird sampling, which flows directly into...
Give Up The Ghost
A track that opens with acoustic guitar which is instantly noticeable, as the rest has been mostly electronically made. The slower second half of this record is almost a contrast to the up-tempo way that this starts out and seems like almost its two EP’s put back to back, rather than an entire record.
Separator
We end with another catchy drum/synth loop, which in terms of style sits in-between the experimental first few tracks and the calmer tracks it follows. “If you think this over / Then you’re wrong” is the key refrain in this track, but what it means for anything (including the bands future) is anyone’s guess, and definitely up for speculation.
The King Of Limbs is not an easy first listen, but it does definitely have the potential to be a satisfying one. As (somewhat of) a music writer, the pressure to write about songs as they’re being heard is not something I’ve ever experienced before, and any proper reviews in the next 24-48 hours will be rushed attempts to pick apart the album and turn into a review in order to be amongst the first to get their words out into the public domain.
I understand that nobody wants to be seen to be left behind (especially in journalism) but the better reviews will be those that haven’t jumped straight in. I will try to come back in a week and re-read what I’ve written today, and see if I still agree with it. As Radiohead have proven, a week can be a long time in music.
Have you heard The King of Limbs yet - what do you think?
Paul
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