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Thom Yorke writes songs the way detectives solve mysteries.
A recorded version is a working theory.
The first one is never the last.
The puzzle can take weeks to work out, or it can take years.
They excel by pushing themselves beyond what seems wise or possible.
They resist formulas to avoid repetition.
Nervous motion leads the way.
But the point is, if youve discovered it works, it no longer works.
Yorkes anxieties are a guiding light forRadioheadand the various projects he pursues outside of it.
Hes been cataloguing the current state of kleptocracy and paranoid technophilia for the last 25 summers.
His songs are nightmares, journeys into dark places, likeHellraiseror DantesInferno.
He muses on how to move in times of disorder, and how to find love in them.
ANIMAis the fruit of a shift in Thom Yorkes creative process.
The songs represent some of the most rich and confident electronic music released under his name.
The seven-minute Twist is a white-knuckle race through discomfiting melodies and anxious word fragments.
The lyrics here are littered with images of cars, trains, bikes, and shuffling feet.
I have to find a way in the dark, he sings in I Am a Very Rude Person.
I have to take a knife to your heart.
Last I Heard (…
He Was Circling the Drain) gets washed away in the brackish gutter water of a city street.
The opening couplet of The Axe Goddamn machinery / Why wont you speak to me?
Axe is jarring because it is the only time the singer tips his hand.
The centerpiece of the album is a song Radiohead fans have been buzzing about for over a decade.
The mark is Italian actress Danaja Roncione, Yorkes partner since 2017.
Thom Yorke knows he cuts a spooky figure in music andin the international dialogue about climate change.
