New Radiohead music has sailed on the horizon for the last few years. I’ve anticipated some release but felt skeptical to its quality. King of Limbs felt tried and honestly lazy. Maybe their tank finally ran empty. I found the level of effort offensive at the time. Limbs sounded like a bunch of shitty leftover demos idly dumped on the world yet the general gage at the time was high. I saw them at Coachella that year perform mostly hits and some popular Limbs tracks. They looked pretty old then and I found it hard to imagine a new album would be out anytime coming soon.
A Moon Shaped Pool arrived with little time for hype to build, which I like. Initially I’m underwhelmed by it but it’s far better than King of Limbs. If Radiohead released this under another name my opinion would be much higher of it but unfortunately, at this stage, their competition is only themselves. They have to live up to The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Hail to The Thief, and in my opinion In Rainbows. Moon Pool doesn’t live up to those and we shouldn’t expect it to. It feels dry in perspective to their career. Many of the songs like “Daydreaming” and “Decks Dark” build up nicely at the end but never payoff. Much of the album doesn’t take me anywhere like “Burn the Witch” which had a great video and I’m sure fans will call for it live. It’s still three and half minutes of loops and Thom Yorke mumbling, kinda like Limbs.
I find with each track I enjoy the following one dims any grove or vibe built up. “Identikit” and “The Numbers” however run well together and layer an equal amount of live instrumentation versus synths and drum machines. Radiohead gets a lot of credit making those elements mainstream in rock but sometimes it’s nice to hear some rock from them. One of my favorite tracks “Desert Island Disk” starts climbing half way through, not at the end, and pays off. It’s one of the few I can zone into more than once.
The crowning jewel of this experience and what makes it worth listening at all comes at the end with “True Love Waits” the big foot of Radiohead lore. It’s been played live since 1995 but never seen a studio release. In a way it’s another way to criticize the album. They went back in time brought back a piece of greatness from their prime. Maybe that speaks to their lack of ability now or maybe like their producer said they were finally satisfied with a recording. I could see either way but I’m currently a pessimist. I’m not downing them for including this however. “True Love Waits” is a masterpiece and for perhaps the last time Radiohead birthed a classic that will endure them. We should all be grateful they went to the time machine or got the last cup from the well. I’m in deep with this song. How couldn’t I? Those lyrics are eleven years old yet they haven’t felt more important or real. Maybe Thom and I are just in the same place. It doesn’t matter. I’m just glad it’s there.
Disaesthetic 