Yorke's new Limbs

Radiohead has made a career of taking left turns. After their 1997 alternative rock masterpiece, OK Computer (EMI), the band went out and made the ambitious electronic music opus Kid A (EMI, 2000). After a two-album foray into that genre, the English five piece brought the guitars back on Hail To The Thief (EMI, 2005) and more recently 2007’s In Rainbows (Self Released). So it isn’t surprising that King of Limbs, which the band self-released last Friday, sends the band in a new direction. Where In Rainbows was lush, King of Limbs is dense and textured, with guitars taking a backseat to machine-like drums, heavy bass and all sorts of electronic manipulation.

Album opener “Bloom” breaks in with a piano loop that is soon accompanied by electronic tones as the piano dissolves into the back of Phil Selway’s drums, Colin Greenwood’s jazzy bass and Thom Yorke’s crooning rambles. More so than any other Radiohead album, King of Limbs invites the listener to groove along to the music rather than sit introspectively. Any further proof of this is provided by the “Lotus Flower” music video (if only everyone had Yorke’s schizophrenic dance moves).

Yorke also uses vocal manipulation to perfection, often adding delay and distortion to his voice. The band has tread into this territory before (most notably on “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” off of 2001s Amnesiac), but never has it been so prevalent than on this album.

“Morning Mr. Magpie” is the closest thing King of Limbs has to a rocker, with two interlaced frenetic post-punk guitars propelling the song. By the end, technical manipulation makes it almost unrecognizable from what it once was.

With its Middle Eastern inspired rhythms, “Little By Little” could almost be confused for a Flying Lotus beat until Yorke’s voice clarifies that this is in fact Radiohead. His lyrics are especially uncharacteristic on this track with his falsetto singing “I’m such a tease/And you’re such a flirt.” “Feral” is composed of Yorke’s augmented vocal loops with no decipherable lyrics and drums that shift in volume as if they are coming closer to you before jumping back. It’s the first Radiohead instrumental track since the Kid A/Amnesiac era, but unlike those instrumentals (“Tree Fingers” and “Hunting Bears,” respectively), “Feral” begs you to dance rather than fall into ambience.

For those looking for the more traditional Radiohead fare, the piano ballad “Codex” is the closest thing to be found on this record. It is a haunting piano dirge with Yorke’s heavily reverberated vocals capturing a rather desperate mood. Horn accents join the mix until finally a string section takes the track to its end. “Give Up The Ghost” also bridges the gap from the band’s old sound as the song is propelled by two guitars, Yorke’s backing falsetto of “Don’t Hurt Me” and ambience. More manipulated voices fill out the sound by the end. These two tracks are the mellowest points of the album yet they are anything but easy listening. Instead, they are densely textured and deeply emotive.

Closing out the short collection (only 8 songs adding up to 37 minutes) is “Separator,” a gorgeous piece that opens with drums, bass, electronics and Yorke’s vocals. At the song’s climax, a guitar playing a riff that could be found on a Wilco record comes in with Yorke’s pleas of “Wake me up. Wake me up.” The album ends only with the ambience of reverb and is paced to perfection, letting the listener groove through the first five songs before bringing you back down during the last three tracks.

Overall King of Limbs is not a Radiohead masterpiece on the scale of OK Computer or Kid A, and will likely not convert those who already don’t like the band. Instead, it’s an engaging and enveloping record that fits perfectly within Radiohead’s 20 plus year career.