Review: Radiohead – The King of Limbs
Radiohead – The King of Limbs (2011) [TBD/XL] // Grade: B
Last Friday in anticipation of their eight studio album, Radiohead posted the video for the album’s lead single “Lotus Flower” to their official blog. Directed by Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s Garth Jennings, Thom Yorke wiggles against a sparse black & white set, looking like a cross between a droog and Charlie Chaplin. Yorke is both awkward and beautiful, his body connected to the rolling beat, his falsetto voice loose and natural. Later that day, Radiohead released The King of Limbs. The album had been announced just five days prior. Perhaps the best summary of the album, lies in the visuals of the “Lotus Flower” video. The King of Limbs is a free-flowing, low-key effort. It is sensual, organic and ultimately, abstract.
Ambient electronics form the backbone of an album that sits in closest company with their work of a decade ago. The King of Limbs explores quietness as a theme, the subdued and often minimal instrumentation tumbling off Yorke’s gloomy voice. There’s an Arthur Russell-ness to the package that makes it so appealing; experimental jazz tones and a reclusive sadness mark the album.
Starting off heavy with “Bloom”, the first several tracks are the album’s bleakest. Yorke’s voice moves slowly, weighty with doom and met by uneasy instrumentation. “Little By Little” turns to desperation as Yorke’s voice wobbles and mumbles in a wimpy pile. These first tracks make for a weak start. There is little to latch onto amongst the suffocating melancholy.
But The King of Limbs never sits still for long, a restless beast seeking new territory. The most experimental of the tracks, the ambient “Feral” ripples with vocal effects, and echoes in paleness. “Codex” offers a sprawling piano ballad to the mix. Nearly every track finds Yorke using his voice in a different manner, and in “Codex” it is clear, calm and radiant. With little electronic manipulation, “Codex” still manages to sound every bit as ambient as “Feral” and the two tracks together illustrate just how effectively Radiohead are able to express the same mood through vastly different sounds without sacrificing identity.
Announced and released in a week, and their shortest release to date at under 40 minutes, The King of Limbs leaves you fidgety. Loose in sound and execution, it feels like an aside to their catalog and not the next big Radiohead album. You can’t help but wonder, is there another, bigger surprise to come later this year?
- Scrooge McFuck