Philip Selway
Weatherhouse

A little time would be needed... a little time.

A break from the real world, in which one can turn off the brain and close one's eyes. Then, the right venue for this estrangement would be needed, a locus amoenus so to speak, ideal but not necessarily isolated or static, where one can find the right mental state.

All this to say that the new work of Philip Selway, drummer of Radiohead, is not an album for every day.

There are some artists who need time to bloom, perhaps shy by nature, reflective, they don't give everything at once, they require their "moment".

An album that will surprise fans of the band that made him famous, but it may also gain admirers from a different audience. Like those who search for singer-songwriter music, simple but never banal.

After Thom Yorke's unstoppable electronic machine and Jonny Greenwood's compositional vein devoted to soundtracks, it's the drummer who takes the most decisive step, not entirely unexpectedly actually. It seems they perform better alone, unburdened by the responsibility of the next release.

If the first album was essentially resolved in a few very simple tracks, relying on the winning combination of voice and guitar, this "Weatherhouse", set to release on October 6th with Bella Union, appears already complete and appropriate for the moment in which the composer perhaps found himself, that "moment" indeed.

Great personality in the voice, which didn't appear in the previous work, almost as if there was a fear of "overstepping," and here instead it touches expressive chords that I would like to hear more often. Like when as children we opened our parents' drawers and found simple objects, elementary for adults, but to us, they seemed like something extraordinary.

Meticulous arrangements and more carefully crafted harmonic solutions. For those who appreciate strings, for example, carefully placed here in a completely non-invasive manner, there is plenty to appreciate.

After the single "Coming Up For Air", with its determined and engaging progression, it's easy to realize you're listening to an album made up of true songs. The foggy "Ghosts"; "Miles Away" perfect in its almost lo-fi search.

There are also no shortage of airier and melodically delicate moments like "Drawn to the Light", a perfect soundtrack for a film set in a Japanese airport, where a million people pass by and you almost don’t notice. Fantastic. Or like the mature ballad with a Beatles-esque flavor and exquisite arrangement, "It Will End In Tears".

And the album flows, quickly and smoothly, without faltering over time (a rare commodity these days) and carries you to the finale, colored by some swaying and asymmetric violins. As if the spring of the cover's music box were slowly losing its driving force, until it stops inexorably.

Great composers grow up. A little time would be needed indeed.