Its chill, with reverb’d vocals. Tom-tom sounds on a synth drum kit. Really cool saw waves. Simple sounds but used to make a sparse yet beautiful soundscape.
It seems Thom Yorke isn’t out of surprises yet for us. His 2014 solo album reportedly sold VERY well, despite being released through bit torrent. This is another ‘alternative release’ coming via Bandcamp.
Although for many of us locally, Bandcamp is nothing new. In fact, its how most of us do business.
But, the fact that Thom, who has the power and breathing room to chart his own path, has chosen to go this route, is significant.
The song is called ‘Youwouldn’tlikemewheni’mangry.’
It’s in the vein of ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’. [Released as an additional album track exclusive to the Bandcamp download].
How do you review a Thom Yorke track? It’s ambient, in the sense that his voice and drums have been treated with reverb. There’s synth. Drums that are panned. Multi layered sampled versions of his voice. [Reminiscent of ‘Kid A’, ‘Amnesiac’, and past Yorke solo work and collaborations]
The drums are minimalist. He’s got oohs and ahh’s in the background for ethereal factor (added ethereal factor). The music is probably describable as ear candy.
It starts like a lot of the songs do on ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes.’ It’s almost formulaic, but its one that works. Drums, then extra blips, then Thom’s ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s, then some sort of leading synth sound, and finally some words.
However they aren’t quite discernible. You could probably look up the lyrics. ‘I can’t come when you call me.’ [Another fairly typical Thom Yorke songwriting element.]
What worries me perhaps about Thom is maybe he’s becoming too predictable. I’ve heard a lot of people around who are getting really good at doing Thom Yorke impressions. I don’t necessarily think thats a good thing.
Maybe I’m missing all the instrumentation and creative minds usually evident with Radiohead. But I’ve always kinda felt that way I guess about Thom’s solo stuff. It’s good, but it’s good work by a guy who does great work with his band. A guy whose band happens to be Radiohead. [Check out the 54 minute ‘Radiohead: In Rainbows – From the Basement’ here released in 2008]
I can’t really tell you there’s much of a message in this song. It’s almost meditative. No really, I think you wouldn’t be out of place listening to this at a Hatha yoga session. It lends itself to unwinding, destressing, much in the same way an 8 hour recording of waves on a beach would. [Like this clip of Radiohead performing a medley of ‘I might be wrong’, ‘There There’, and ‘Knives Out’]
In that, it has appeal. It’s like a sonic massage on the ear drums. But, sometimes you want something more. And if you do, you might be looking for what the band offers rather than the solo frontman can. [Here’s the largest number of performers I’ve ever seen Radiohead have onstage at one time for this performance of ’15-step’ at the 2009 Grammy’s.]
I’m not saying I’m not a fan of the single, I am. But, as a fan of both the band and the solo artist, I just have to admit that while it sounds ‘nice’, it’s also a bit empty sounding and isn’t as driven and fired up as you might want a frothing Radiohead song to be. [Check out this footage of Radiohead performing ‘Just’ on ‘Later with Jools Holland’ in 1995.]
But again, this isn’t Radiohead, this is Thom Yorke, and perhaps this is a branding decision, a purposeful divergent aesthetic.
This is more ambient music, soundtrack to a film that will probably be made in a year or two. It’s visual music, but not storytelling music.
Something must be said of the role of Nigel Godrich in all this. My theory? Nigel’s ‘helping’ Thom arrange his solo work in lieu of the absence of his bandmates, and because of it, Nigel’s guiding hand doesn’t sound quite the same as say Johnny Greenwood’s. That’s the ‘foreign sound’ in the songs. [Hilarious footage of Nigel and Thom answering a series of banal questions on Youtube]
All the same, check it out. You can stream it for free from Bandcamp. Or, pay what you wish for the download.
Images from Thom Yorke’s Twitter feed @thomyorke
Sandeep Sehbi
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