inrainbows.com
Never mind for a minute In Rainbows ’ surprise online release sans interference from a record label of any kind. Granted a band the size of Radiohead re-drawing the playing field is worth talking about — as is the decision to allow fans to pay whatever they feel the record is worth when they download it. It’s almost too easy to forget about the record itself.
From its opening glitched beats In Rainbows is a rhythm section’s dream. The majority of the album’s tracks are notably punctuated with diamond-sharp drumwork from Phil Selway the most unassuming drummer in rock here given wide-open spaces to display his intricate and unrelenting Kraut-stylings. While some are celebrating In Rainbows as the return of the guitar to Radiohead’s world (it’s not and wasn’t that the word on Hail to the Thief four years ago?) at its finest In Rainbows is an example of a band pulling back with — to borrow from their own canon of work — everything in its right place.
Jonny Greenwood’s recent orchestral manoeuvres have a strong presence — longtime fan favourite “Nude” comes tarted up with a gorgeous string arrangement while “Reckoner” (nearly unrecognizable from its easily tracked-down live rendition) treads similar territory to UNKLE’s sweeping Richard Ashcroft collaboration “Lonely Soul” with a somewhat more immediate organic effect.
Perhaps the biggest surprises however come from In Rainbows ’ paired ballads “All I Need” and “House of Cards.” The former puts Coldplay in their place its simplistic titular chorus building into a euphoric rush of cymbals and organ. “House of Cards” on the other hand reveals a previously unseen affection for old-school soul. It’s an immediate shock to hear Thom Yorke croon “I don’t want to be your friend/ I just want to be your lover” but it comes with the admission that human relationships are every bit as tenuous as the flimsy construction for which the song is named.
Within Radiohead’s discography In Rainbows sits comfortably in the middle of all they’ve attempted before a perfect synthesis of the group’s earlier triumphs. Whether or not the record industry’s ever the same again matters little — the most interesting story here remains the music first and foremost.
