Radiohead release a boxset of A Moon Shaped Pool with 32 pages of artwork, two heavyweight vinyl records, double compact disc featuring two extra tracks and a piece of a Radiohead 1⁄2 inch master tape.
Radiohead's ninth album A Moon Shaped Pool is finally here, following a campaign that ranged from companies closing down and starting up, much chatter online from fans looking to decode the mysteries, and a good old fashioned (with a slightly sinister edge cloaked in its mystery "Burn The Witch") flyer in the post, we can safely say it's finally here.
The new album from Radiohead, and it's a corker. Having been around for almost three decades, at this point you could almost forgive the 'head if they were to fall back on their laurels, but! we are pleased to say that A Moon Shaped Pool finds the group continuing to experiment and progress forward the sound of what people would consider Radiohead to sound like. Starting with the orchestrated string-heavy single Burn The Witch, they revisit the sounds of The Bends while borrowing an electronic sheen sourced from Kid A, while Daydreaming has perhaps more in common with the Erased Tapes label than it does with the IDM-indebted sculptures of their later works.
But anyway, everyone's heard the singles and loves them but the real treasure here is deep at the core of the album. Essentially a hugely varied and cinematic indie LP at its heart, A Moon Shaped Pool features a selection of variants on the traditional sounds of a band but with the signature experimental touches that keep it enticing while familiar. There is a flowing energy that ties the tracks together into a strong narrative, and much like Mark Pritchard (with whom Thom recently collaborated with) the vibe is more steeped in cinematic rolling instrumentation than Darkside computer heavy tronica. A richly produced piece of work which offers rewards upon first glance and is certain to convince those unsure of the true genius of the band. While at moments it may seem they are looking back to their start, the momentum of moving forward and paving the way ahead is fiercely strong. and stands A Moon Shaped Pool to be one of the finest entries into their discography yet, and 24 years since the first single was released how many groups can say that? Highly recommended from this corner.
