Oct 2007

‘In Rainbows’, as a title, implies a sense of comfort and delightfulness. Symbolically, rainbows are more likely to be associated with kittens and warm blankets than the grim and glum circumstances Radiohead is known for soundtracking. There's a slight, if expected, twist at play. The band is more than familiar with the unpleasant moods associated with colours like red, green, and blue — all of which, of course, are colours within a rainbow — all of which are present, and even mentioned, during the album.

On a couple levels, then, ‘In Rainbows’ is not any less fitting as a Radiohead album title than ‘Myxomatosis’ as a Radiohead song title. Despite references to "going off the rails", hitting "the bottom," getting "picked over by the worms", being "dead from the neck up", and feeling "trapped" (twice), along with Radiohead Wordplay Deluxe Home Edition pieces like "comatose" and "nightmare" — in the same song! double score! — the one aspect of the album that becomes increasingly perceptible with each listen is how romantic it feels, albeit in the way that one might find the bioport scenes in David Cronenberg's 'eXistenZ' to be extremely hot and somewhat unsettling.

Surprisingly, some of the album's lyrics are even more personal/universal and straightforward than anything on 'The Eraser', the album made by Thom Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. "I'm an animal trapped in your hot car," from ‘All I Need’, has to be one of the saddest, most open-hearted metaphors used to express unrequited love. ‘House of Cards’ begins with "I don't want to be your friend/I just want to be your lover/No matter how it ends/No matter how it starts," and the one with the worms includes "I'd be crazy not to follow/Follow where you lead/Your eyes/They turn me." This effective weaving of disparate elements — lyrical expressions commonly associated with the band, mixed in with ones suited for everyday love ballads — goes for the music as well. The album is very song-oriented, with each track constantly moving forward and developing, yet there are abstract electronic layers and studio-as-instrument elements to prevent it from sounding like a regression. In Rainbows will hopefully be remembered as Radiohead's most stimulating synthesis of accessible songs and abstract sounds, rather than their first pick-your-price download.

Following the landmark independent digital release of Radiohead's seventh LP whereby customers could name their own price, the experimental British rock stalwarts finally issued 'In Rainbows' in its physical formats. Musically, this release can be seen as a logical culmination of much of the band's previous work, incorporating the avant-garde electronics of later records and more traditional guitar-heavy elements synonymous with their inception. The overt political themes of previous album 'Hail To The Thief' are largely jettisoned for an altogether more romantic milieu, with songs such as 'Videotape' and 'Nude' showcasing the intimate nature of singer Thom Yorke's voice.

Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their breakthrough album OK COMPUTER, making art-rock cool again in the process. The mercurial band's long-awaited follow-up three years later was a sharp left turn full of ambient electronics and Can-like sonic deconstruction, and they've continued the trend with subsequent albums and solo projects. The connecting thread through all the band's phases has been Thom Yorke's intense vocal frenzy.