Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

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RADIOHEAD "In Rainbows" *****

It's unfortunate that all the media interest regarding the method in which Radiohead have chosen to make their new album available threatens to overshadow the music itself, especially as In Rainbows may be the band's most perfectly realized album to date. It's 10 years since their crossover pre-millenial masterpiece OK Computer and it seems that everything since then has been judged against this album (not just Radiohead albums, but also those by their many imitators), with both critics and fans accusing the band of self-indulgence and giving up on melody. But it's clear now that the band have simply pursued their own muse, and the idea that they might have followed the U2 blueprint of moving into increasingly bland stadium-rock aesthetics now seems ridiculous. Radiohead instead fulfilled their destiny to become the most visible and influential band making experimental music inside the mainstream. There may be artists under the radar who are more innovative, but in much the same way that in 1968 the Beatles were able to bring avant-garde music to millions of people by including Revolution No 9 on the White Album, Radiohead have been able to introduce forms of experimental and underground music to listeners who probably didn't even know they liked that kind of thing.

In Rainbows sees the band continuing to develop their unique blend of melancholia, electronica, indie / post-rock and avant garde music, but for the first time all these elements seem perfectly in balance, and the album never descends into the self-indulgence or misfires which were characteristic of their other post OK Computer work. House of Cards starts off as one of the band's most directly romantic ballads ("I don't want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover"), but adds layers of ethereal textured guitars straight from the textbook of fellow Oxford band Ride, to powerful effect. All I Need starts as a mid tempo electronic ballad, but climaxes with a glorious collision of piano, strings, glockenspiel and drums, to create one of the album's best moments. As with last year's Thom Yorke solo album the influence of the Warp school of electronica hangs over several tracks, with 15 Step and weary piano ballad Videotape both featuring skittery electronic drums, the former even including children's voices that could have been lifted straight from a Boards of Canada album. Nude is a trademark sweeping Radiohead ballad, complete with majestic strings, jazz tinged drums, and Yorke's plaintive vocals, while Faust Arp combines picked acoustic guitar and an almost baroque string arrangement to create one of the band's simplest and loveliest songs yet. But for all it's wonderful down tempo pieces, the album's highlight comes when the band move up a gear on Weird Fishes / Arpeggi, an irresistible blend of krautock grooves, kinetic guitar patterns and euphoric vocals.