Released: 2016

Genres: Art Rock, Chamber Pop, Post-Rock

The Musiquarium’s A Moon Shaped Pool Review Score: 10 out of 10

The loops and glitches of 2011’s The King of Limbs had proven to be quite divisive among the Radiohead fanbase, especially following a warm and accessible album like In Rainbows, so fans were hoping for something more along the lines of that album — another five years later and fans more-or-less got what they wanted.

Preceding the recording of A Moon Shaped Pool, Thom Yorke had recently undergone a divorce and so, in many ways, this is a divorce record, similar to an album like Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks or Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear, though many of the lyrics still deal with the usual Radioheadisms, whether its of the social-political variety or something more abstract and oblique. As for the beautiful, mysterious Stanley Donwood album artwork, my theory is that it’s meant to resemble the silhouette of a woman’s face, like she’s fading away from memory.

Burn the Witch sees the long-waited release of a song that’s been played live as far back as the early 2000s, and features a string section plucking their instruments with plectrums, giving the strings a distinct and almost percussive sound. Daydreaming may very well be the saddest of the sad songs in Radiohead’s canon and has an experimental outro that feels emotionally-devastating. Ful Stop takes its time building up with a fade-in, before eventually bursting into a climactic end. Glass Eyes is a tranquil piano ballad in the vein of The King of Limbs‘ Codex.

Identikit features a Jonny Greenwood guitar solo that should bring a smile to the face of the fans whose favourite Radiohead albums are The Bends or OK Computer. Speaking of Jonny Greenwood, the guitar playing on the finger-picked Present Tense and on Desert Island Disk are just further evidence of his prowess behind the fretboard — truly one of the most under-appreciated and talented guitarists of our time.

True Love Waits finally makes its studio debut, after floating around live since the late nineties, with every note from Thom Yorke’s mouth sounding like a desperate plea — until this, the closest we had to an official version was on the 2001 live album, I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings; this new version is likely to bring listeners to their knees, and bring tears to their eyes.

Every song here is rich, vibrant, enchanting and intricate, and like most Radiohead projects, will require repeated listens to hear all of its layers. Though Radiohead may still have an album left in them, A Moon Shaped Pool is a phenomenal album that feels very much like a swan song, though I hope that I’m proven wrong.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Radiohead on Discogs.

Back to the 2016 Album Guide or the Radiohead Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard