reax music magazine :: music + culture » Reviews » Radiohead - In Rainbows

Amid the controversy, groundbreaking distribution, and newfound autonomy, Radiohead has pieced together a vivid array of all their musical colors in their seventh studio album, In Rainbows. Most of the 10 tracks have appeared on various bootlegs, but the studio cuts hint at modernity of their sound and are a mixture of motifs from OK Computer, Kid A & Amnesiac, but with a humble quaintness. Thom’s classic wail and moan vocals interlaced with piano, strings, synths and guitars take you through a whirlwind of time, thoughts and emotions that Radiohead soundscapes conjure up. Openers “15 Step” and “Bodysnatchers” lend the rockin’ up-tempo Bends-days sound while “Nude,” “All I Want” and “House of Cards” are somberly-stitched instant heartfelt ballads. It’s the old in the new, it’s “an invitation with the edges sawn off.” “Videotape” is the perfect closer, phasing out the spectrum of trance In Rainbows had you in. I paid £5, in case you were wondering. – Stephanie Bolling