Thom Yorke – The Eraser
I actually only recently heard that Thom Yorke was coming out with a solo album so being the huge Radiohead fan that I am you can guess I was particularly excited. The band Radiohead has been around for quite sometime, spanning nearly twenty years as a group, and have released a whopping six mind-blowing albums. The band has always been known for their originality and dedication throughout the years but since day one there has always been one man that has really been at the reins, his name is Thom Yorke.
To start off it should be noted that Thom’s album is very reminiscent of his band’s former albums. The only difference is the use of electronic beeps much more frequently than Radiohead. So if you want to sum up the entire album you could say it’s like Radiohead with an electronic twist.
Yorke’s opener is entitled
The Eraser which begins with a subtle pulse with Thom playing the piano in the background. It’s a great way to start the album because it opens a window for the listener to tell them what exactly they’re in for. For me this opening song really showed me that Thom can sing, it’s particularly obvious by the end when his emotional “oooooooh” closes off the first track. When all is said and done it’s one of my favourite tracks on the entire disc and will more than likely be one of the most memorable tracks on the CD.
Following behind The Eraser is
Analyse. Personally I can see why this track would be quickly discarded by non-radiohead fans but to those who have grown to love Radiohead and their music will really appreciate this one. The song keeps its overall feel that you get from listening to the first track so by the time you reach analyse on the CD you’re going to know what kind of music you’re really getting into. That being said it’s not the best or worst track on the album but it should definitely not be ignored.
Sitting at the 1/3rd mark rests
The Clock. This is Thom’s chance to get political on the album, as he talks about
Throwing coins in the wishing well, for us and
you just move the hands upon the clock. Since Thom’s such a blow-hard for keeping global warming to a bare-minimum I believe the songs about that. If you go into the song with that mindset you can appreciate his work a lot more. Lyrics without meaning are the thorn in present society’s side.
Black Swan is the next track and still remains to be in my top three tracks for this album. It has such a calming tone about it that it makes it somewhat eerie. For instance when Thom boasts out the lyrics
“And it's fucked up, fucked up” without the slightest hint of irritation or uneasiness it just hits me like no song has before. It’s hard to explain, you’ll have listen to it to understand.
[i]Skip Divided[i] is probably the most upbeat song on the album where Thom breaks out of the soft sounding shell to do a bit of a louder song. The weird part of the song is that it’s supposed to be a bit more upbeat but it still retains its soft sound to it, it’s almost like it’s somewhere caught in between. It’s not
myfavourite track on the album but it’s still fairly good, though if there was a rule that there had to be one miss on every album this would be the miss.
Atoms for Peaceis an awesome song. It has to be said, this song is just great. It has such a peaceful sound to it, in fact it’s so peaceful I may try use it to help me get to sleep tonight! Throughout the entire track it has a somewhat muffled xylophone beat going on in the background that would calm just about everyone’s nerves. One of my favourites for sure.
Nearing the end of York’s tracks lays
And it rained all night. The songs a great follow up to
Atoms for Peace because after the previous track you’re sort of craving for more of the same, and luckily with this track you get it. Thom hits some high notes in this one, in fact it’s probably the highest I’ve heard the guy sing in a long while. This can be seen as positive or negative pending on how you like your music, but if you’re a Radiohead fan than you’ll love this track.
The albums first single is
Harrowdown Hill and it shows up as the second last track on the album. A lot of my friends are digging this song and praising it as the best on the CD yet I just don’t see it. Sure it’s an O-K song but it just doesn’t really do it for me. It might be the fact that its one of the “different” sounding tracks on the album but overall I just don’t like it as much as the others. In the end it’s not terrible by any means but it’s just different and personally I think it questions the integrity of the album’s overall sound which isn’t cool in my book.
The album’s closer is
Cymbal Rush which lies in around the five minute mark. It is by far the most electronic song on the album as it’s always accompanied by beeps amongst other things. The song sort of has a progressive feel to it as in it begins in a certain way and then moves along a path onto another sound; the one thing that you’ll realize about this song is that you don’t want it to end because when it does that’s it for the eraser.
This album is really something special; it’s a blend of simple sounding beats and rhythms that just work. It could be the fact that Thom has an amazing voice to sing with but when it’s all said and done his first attempt as a solo artist was a successful attempt. My one and only problem with the album is the fact that it’s all centered around electronic beats and thuds, for the most part it works wonders but it would have been interesting to see how he could have experimented with other forms of song. For me a lot of it sounded like
Backdrifts off of Hail to the Theif. I doubt if he made another album in this way he would be able to get away with it. All in all Radiohead fans rejoice, Thom’s solo career worked like a charm, he has created a wonderful album. Here’s hoping for a sophomore album from Mr.Yorke!
Top Three Tracks
1. Black Swan
2. The Eraser
3. Atoms for Peace
