Radiohead -- A Moon Shaped Pool

10/10

Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool sounds more like an album of moods and atmospheres than songs. For some bands, this would be a negative. Not for Radiohead.
Album opener, "Burn the Witch," sets the sonic tone, string-dominated music, steady, minimalist drums, acoustic or non-distorted electric guitar, and a Thom Yorke who sounds both engaged and resigned. Really, the story of A Moon Shaped Pool is the strings, with Johnny Greenwood putting his film composition experience to great use. They are absolutely beautiful, and they drive the album's strange, organic mood. The supporting all-star is some lovely, often treated piano work. These are not staples of rock music, and I would hesitate to even call A Moon Shaped Pool a rock album. The amounted of distorted guitar is minimal, almost entirely relegated to the raucous guitar solo tagged onto the end of "Indentikit," and by "tagged on," I mean unexpected, yet perfectly placed--not extraneous.
In addition to the non-rock instrumentation, A Moon Shaped Pool features a definite lack of hooks, choruses, or other pop-derived elements commonly found in much of rock music. This is why I consider A Moon Shaped Pool more an exhortation of mood and atmosphere than a collection of songs. Each track is distinct, but none, outside of the piano-based closer, exist under any pop or rock terms. They're more movements in a piece, making this more akin to classical music than anything. Of course, most classical music doesn't feature guitar, electric bass, and a drum kit, though to turn this statement around, the drums are aided by Portishead's Clive Deamer, a master of straightforward, propulsive, yet rhythmically minimalist beats--not exactly a staple-style of playing in rock.
Yeah, I am bleating on and on, but I could sum it all up by stating that A Moon Shaped Pool is some strange cross between a 50-minute classical composition and a 70's British rock album, replete with classic Radiohead electronics and sound manipulation. It sounds like emotionally-attuned space aliens who mastered music a million millennia ago created it, and it is evocative of a late fall afternoon with dimming sunlight falling on a lake and some old train passing on a hillside so far away you can feel it more than hear it, and a resignation that sadness might be here to stay and life goes on and is beautiful anyway. Every time I listen to it it sounds better and newer, and if Radiohead wanted to call it quits here, that would be fair, but if they want to release an album a year like this until all five members are in the grave, that would be alright.
What a great band.


2016 XL
1. Burn the Witch 3:40
2. Daydreaming 6:24
3. Decks Dark 4:41
4. Desert Island Disk 3:44
5. Ful Stop 6:07
6. Glass Eyes 2:52
7. Identikit 4:26
8. The Numbers 5:45
9. Present Tense 5:06
10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief 5:03
11. True Love Waits 4:43