It makes the experimental accessible while still challenging, through the breadth and depth of its expression, the definition of what constitutes popular music in 2016.
#A MOON SHAPED POOL RADIOHEAD RAR FULL#
Across the span of its 11 tracks-from the prancing orchestral strings of the opener, “Burn the Witch,” to the slowly dying piano tone at the end of the finale, “True Love Waits”-it’s an assertive and ambitious album, full of beauty and kinetic energy. This may not result in a radical shift in sound but rather a welcome change in tone: for the first time Radiohead feel comfortable in their own skin.‘A Moon Shaped Pool” (XL Recordings), Radiohead’s ninth studio album, is a welcome addition to the catalog of the most consistently excellent recording act since the Beatles, even if, on first blush, it doesn’t rise to the quintet’s best work. Radiohead are recognizably the same band that made that pioneering piece of electronica-rock but they're older and wiser on A Moon Shaped Pool, deciding not to push at the borders of their sound but rather settle into the territory they've marked as their own. Instead, there's a melancholic comfort to its ebb and flow, a gentle rocking motion that feels comforting it's a tonic to the cloistered, scattered King of Limbs and even the sleek alienation of Kid A. Certainly, sections of A Moon Shaped Pool contain an eerie, disconcerting glimmer, usually attained through power kept in reserve - nothing stabs as hard as the sawing fanfare of "Burn the Witch," while the winding, intersecting guitars that conclude "Identikit" provide the noisiest element - yet the album as a whole doesn't feel unsettling. What he and Radiohead have gained, however, is some measure of maturity, and with this, their music has deepened. There, Yorke accompanied himself with a simple acoustic guitar and he seemed earnest and yearning, but here, supported by piano and strings, he sounds weary and weathered, a man who has lost his innocence. Such subtle, shifting textures emphasize Radiohead's musicianship, a point underscored when this version of "True Love Waits" is compared to its 2001 incarnation.
Sly, dissonant strings grace some cuts, acoustic guitars provide a pastoral counterpoint to an electronic pulse, Thom Yorke's voice floats through the music, often functioning as nothing more than an element of a mix what he's saying matters not as much as how he murmurs. The pulse rarely quickens and the arrangements seldom agitate, yet the album never quite feels monochromatic. A Moon Shaped Pool doesn't play like an ill-considered collection of leftovers it unfurls with understated ease, each silvery song shimmering into the next. These are the elements of a clearinghouse, but with Radiohead appearances are always deceiving. Its 11 songs are sequenced in alphabetical order - a stunt befitting a Pixies concert or perhaps a Frank Black box set, not a proper album - and many of these tunes are of an older vintage: the group began work on the opening "Burn the Witch" at the turn of the century, while the closing "True Love Waits" first appeared in concerts way back in 1995. A cursory glance at A Moon Shaped Pool may suggest a certain measure of indifference on the part of Radiohead.