Wake me up. Wake me up. The minute I played the album that was digitally downloaded onto my computer for nine dollars, I was in a dream. For those that love Radiohead, it is a return to normalcy. The continuing tone recalls from In Rainbows, Hail to the Thief, and Amnesiac. I have listened to the album over ten times, and I have found no reason to stop.
Thom Yorke is truly the king of limbs. At first glance I considered this surreal (of course because it's Radiohead), but after the initial shock I realized it was exactly them and exactly what I had wanted. Nine dollars, eight songs, 37 minutes. While it seems a bit short, it does amazing things if you give it a chance. The album starts off with Bloom, a flying sort of abstract march. With what continues the tone of the album seems to start half glad, half sad, with a low point in Codex, a pure piano and Yorke piece and finally seems to pick back up at Separator.
What makes this album so enthralling? I think it would have to be Radiohead's attention once again to minute detail. Each songs has so much to offer in it, and while his lyrics seem to be much less recognizable this time around, he seems hand picked for their style. Continuous talk of water and cleansing makes me feel like this is album's meaning involves a cleansing. With Codex recommending to "jump off the edge into a lake", there's a freeing experience at the end.
Morning Mr Magpie sounds like the most angry song in the album, presenting a melody that has been stolen, and a negative connotation toward the magpie's arrival. Little by Little, although my least favorite song in the album is a perfect lead in to Feral, an almost incoherent flash fiction of music. Don't believe me? Watch this video, and agree with me.
While Feral is fast paced and intense, it's beautiful. One of my favorites is Lotus Flower. Remember when I said that Thom Yorke is the king of limbs? He literally is:
My favorite of the album, Codex, is a brief somber song much like Pyramid Song, Videotape, or Sail to the Moon. Once again, it is something perfect to come up in the vehicle you drive and it's great to listen to as you move through the world. What it does is small, but it enhances your observation, makes them acute. It really is a great song and it's the turn of the album in my opinion. What moves after in Give up the Ghost and Separator is almost a plea to return to what was good. It's a wonder how I listen to this so many times in a row but I've come to the conclusion that the album is very circular, like a death and rebirth. Of course you don't have to agree with my ridiculous defense to playing this album to death.
What else can I say? The King of Limbs impressed me. Then again, I don't think I can give an objective look at Radiohead. They could have released an album full of silence and I would probably be here anyway typing things like, "it's edgy" or "it's like a death and rebirth". Although it's bias, it still goes to their credit that after OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows, Thom Yorke's The Eraser, and finally King of Limbs, I still am able to be enlightened. As usual, it makes getting through the semester that much easier with good, new music at my side.
No comments:
Post a Comment