Radiohead - King Of Limbs

Band: Radiohead
Album: The King Of Limbs
Label: Self-released
Year: 2011

If 2007's In Rainbows was marked by the relative dominance of guitarists Johnny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien, King Of Limbs is definitely Thom Yorke's album. There are no straight ahead rockers or guitar freakouts to be found here. It mirrors his Eraser solo album far more closely the digitally-enhanced space rock of past records. "Bloom" flutters along on synths that wouldn't sound out of place on a Flying Lotus track. It turns into the kind of glitchy tripout meditation that Radiohead has has excelled at since "Idioteque," only now the band sounds far more confident in its melding of digital and analogue instruments. The unit moves as a coherent whole, shifting gears from electronic breakbeats to analogue symphonic swells. Also present is the ghost of drum & bass Radiohead enthusiast Spor amid the disjointed Yorke harmonies on "Give Up The Ghost". "Little By Little" and "Seperator" contain ethereal vocal textures and spacious layered guitars, panning gorgeously like twin comets. As usual, Nigel Godrich's production is impeccable. A typically visually arresting video has been produced for "Lotus Flower", although I would name the stately piano march "Codex" as the record's emotional centerpiece. Each new listen reveals greater sonic detail and complexity, but this isn't really a difficult album to get into. A fine latter-day effort from an experimental rock group that experiments far more than it rocks. Hardcore Radiohead fans (are there any other kind?) will find much to love here.