Radiohead
In Rainbows

Let me preface this by saying it's my first review, and it's probably going to be a pointless review after a good 15 years since this album's release, but since it's my favorite album from my favorite band, I couldn't start with anything else.

This is the first album that comes to mind when I pick up the guitar, because yes, there's a lot of guitar in the album, played in the style I love the most, intertwining arpeggios that weave together delicately, maintaining this even through bursts of distortion, never harsh to my ears. But there's much more, starting with Yorke's sublime and clean voice, always central in the album, engaging and never dull bass lines from Jonny Greenwood's perhaps too underrated brother, Colin, and piano inserts here and there leading up to the beautiful Videotape. The drumming in this album is discreet (not in the sense of mediocre, of course, but shy), rendered very subtle yet fitting greatly in the album's mood and even contributing significantly to its output.

Like all Radiohead albums, it's packed with filling sounds, the kind you only discover upon the tenth listen that leave you amazed that you didn't notice them before, because still, even though I consider it one of their most accessible albums, it's very complex, but obviously, that's no surprise, we all know by now what they're capable of doing.

In conclusion, I consider In Rainbows to be the album of their synthesis, the one that knew how to take inspiration from OK Computer, combining it with what they learned during the Kid A/Amnesiac period, perhaps what Hail to the Thief didn't fully manage to do, too heterogeneous for my tastes.