Thom Foolery

Thom Yorke may, to some, look like he’s just wandered off the set of a horror film, but not many would have expected him to contribute a song to the new ‘Twilight’ movie ‘New Moon’.

Yorke does have form with plasma-sucking fiends ( see ‘We Suck Young Blood’ from Radiohead’s ‘Hail To The Thief’), however, a credit on vampire teen-flick phenomena ‘Twilight’ was surely a step too far? Well, ‘15 Step’ from ‘In Rainbows’ appeared over the end credits of the first film, and the new soundtrack for ‘New Moon’ sees Yorke nestled between some genuine indie talent (The Killers aside) – Muse, Editors, Death Cab For Cutie, Grizzly Bear - featuring Beach House’s Victoria Legrand - and Bon Iver with St Vincent.

So is ‘Hearing Damage’ any good or does it lack bite (sorry about that, but it was just asking for it)? The opening is awash with unexpected reverb-laden, heavy beats which sounds like a darker, glossier cousin of Yorke’s solo album ‘The Eraser’, particularly single ‘Harrowdown Hill’. The lyrics are traditional Yorke fare with a “drunken salesman” making an appearance and a sense of uneasy foreboding:  “They say you’re getting better but you don’t feel any better.”

The static buzz and brisk percussion throughout the track builds to a happily noisy end with almost carnival-esque drums rounding proceedings off nicely. It’ll certainly sate the appetite for anyone excited by Radiohead guitarist Ed O’ Brien’s recent comments about recording a new album for 2010.b Indeed, we’ve been offered a fair few tasty morsels of late, whether it be in the form of a tribute to the late Harry Patch, the last surviving veteran of the first world war, or new Thom Yorke double A-side ‘Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses’ and ‘The Hollow Earth’.

Now, is any of this likely to reveal the direction a new Radiohead album would take? Not bloody likely, seeing as the band and Yorke specialise in taking expectations and beating them about the head and body with brutal alacrity (see Yorke taking ‘The Eraser’ back out on tour with Flea on bass as the latest example). Anyway, ‘The Hollow Earth’ is merely a leftover from The Eraser sessions and, with a healthy disrespect for looking back, is already gaining the putrid stench of old news. ‘Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses’ sees Thom and Jonny Greenwood hang, draw and quarter the more delicate version of the song, known to fans as ‘Reckoner’ (which was, incidentally, used on the closing credits of ‘Choke’, the film adaptation of the fantastically depraved Chuck Palahniuk book) from ‘In Rainbows’.

‘Reckoner’ – far from sounding like an elegy to the last days of man – started out life in 2001 as a more fast-paced rock tune before evolving into its present day incarnation. And now with ‘Feeling Pulled Apart…’ Thom and Jonny do a brutal job of deconstructing the more austere sound attained on ‘In Rainbows’, which clears the way nicely for Thom and his Merry Men to reshape their whole musical landscape once more.

Possibly the most fertile ground for any Nostradamus-like predictors of Radiohead’s future is most likely to be found in ‘These Are My Twisted Words’. A brand new number recently leaked on the official Radiohead website, with a message from guitarist/ keyboardist/ composer etc etc Jonny Greenwood, the song opens with layers and layers of malevolent guitars and drum machines and continues for a good couple of minutes until the familiar vocal kicks in. So far, so Radiohead. “When are you coming back/ I just can’t handle it,” yelps the grand olde duke of Thom, echoing the constant cry of the band’s many fans.

It is, in the end, a pointless exercise trying to second guess a band who, like sharks, just do not stop moving. Fun, though.

So, maybe a contribution to the new ‘Twilight’ soundtrack isn’t such a shock after all.  However, I propose Mr. Thom announces that he’s collaborating with the Tories and David Cameron on a new version of ‘He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands’ for their election campaign. Now that would stir up a stink.