Radiohead
In Rainbows

THE REVIEW

Anticipated for over four years, and suddenly announced in the first days of October on the website http://www.inrainbows.com/, the seventh album of Thom Yorke and company is released - for now, in digital download only - creating a media storm and total upheaval in the world of the music industry.

The album is indeed released without the support of any label or major whatsoever, and potential buyers are even offered the opportunity to decide the price to pay. Additionally, a luxurious discbox is sold - also through the aforementioned website - a set of 2 CDs and 2 vinyl records (with the option to download the digital version of the album for free) for 40 pounds, about 60 euros, which will be sent to buyers around the first week of December. This operation is also carried out without the involvement of any distributor.

In short, a true revolution in record management, but then again, the Radiohead have accustomed us to revolutions for an immemorial time, although until today, those "seismic shifts" were always solely on an artistic level. No one expected such a move, least of all the record companies, who paradoxically are praising the policy of the world's most famous Oxfordians, citing it as an example of a forward-looking perspective of what the future of the recording industry could be. In short, to cut to the chase, Radiohead jumped on the train of those opportunities that the majors let pass by, getting bogged down by the delays of cumbersome and obsolete management by the "politicians" of the record. And perhaps the data leaking these days show them as the real winners with - as is rumored on the web - almost over 10 million downloads in just one day.

But what about the most anticipated rock album in the last four years?

"In Rainbows" could not fail to surprise. But this was predictable. Let's say that in their "being innovative," "being above all conventions," "being super partes," Radiohead were predictable. An album that opens with a tribal synth and distortions plus an almost jazz guitar riff and Thom's voice warm and fascinating as ever. And halfway through, an organ outlines almost epic suggestions and nocturnal images. It's "15 Step" and it's a pleasure to find the old friends awaited. They're still the same, yes. Then suddenly the fuzzy guitar of "Bodysnatchers" breaks the ecstasy, and suddenly the Radiohead return to rock, the psychedelic, obsessive type of tracks like "National Anthem". A mantra of sounds, echoes, and almost spectral vocalizations. Chaos.

The delicacy of ancient masterpieces like "Exit Music", "Lucky", and "Pyramid Song" returns with "Nude", the third track. Minimal opening, but the "crescendo" is announced, and the finale is goosebump-inducing. Tight rhythms, dry drums, and acoustic guitar open "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" which unfolds in a suffering but more conventional singing (always in their way). Halfway, the track slows down and then resumes in a continuous succession of emotions, almost in a loop. "All I Need", the fifth track, is almost a ballad close to the more accessible stuff of "OK Computer" ("Karma Police", "No Surprises"). The voice is almost projected into a heavenly dimension, electronic sounds of a gentle xylophone paint the sound background that eventually fully envelops the singing, as if it were being sucked up by the instruments. "Faust Arp" is one of the most intense songs on the album. Obsessive singing over a marvelous string carpet. Almost bucolic the general atmosphere. It almost feels like hearing echoes of Arthur Lee and his Love that in the 60s revolutionized pop. "Reckoner" with its almost industrial rhythm is embellished by a light acoustic guitar and the falsetto voice that draws a beautiful melodic line of extraordinary emotional impact. Perhaps together with the preceding track, they reach unique peaks of suggestion. We are at levels of "Paranoid Android", to put it plainly.

The eighth track "House Of Cards" starts almost jazzy, but perversion is at the door. The voice once again weaves obsessive plots, and the arrangements become increasingly psychedelic, with almost spectral background echoes. The contradiction in the commonality. Much more conventional the intro of "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", which is almost pure pop, with a delicate and enveloping singing that becomes gradually obsessive in a formidable crescendo and closes with a beautiful choral arrangement. The album closes with "Videotape" with its soft and enveloping textures, halfway through almost taken by an obsessive synth and an increasingly intense piano that beautifully closes the 42 minutes of music of "In Rainbows".

A curious note: the tracks are all rather short compared to the average of the band's latest productions. This too is a "break in the mold" for a band that to define as epoch-making would be almost offensive. Radiohead are a thousand miles above everything and everyone. They have surpassed the physicality of music and have once again given us indescribable sensations. Listening to them makes everything seem so unreal. They are the therapy against the ugliness of our existence.