Sinead has a review of the new Thom Yorke album ‘The Eraser’ up today, and I have to say her review pretty much echoes my sentiments exactly. I had high hopes for such an amazing artist especially after hearing ‘Harrowdown Hill’. That song is the most immediate on the album and has the strongest lyrics too. It’s about the former UK Ministry of Defence employee and weapons inspector David Kelly who committed suicide shortly after a Parliamentary investigation into the governmental dossier on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Lines such as “Up on Harrowdown Hill / Near where you used to go to school / This is where I, this is where I am lying down / Did I fall or was I pushed / Then wheres the blood?“, reinforce the sense of desperation surrounding David Kelly’s death.
The album is full of electronic beats which stutter and collapse, while there is some truly beautiful piano featured on some tracks and Thom’s voice is as good as ever. Highlights for me are – ‘Harrowdown Hill’, ‘Atoms for Peace’ , ‘The Clock’, ‘Analyse’ and ‘Cymbal Rush’. Unfortunately, the other songs included are a bit too glitchy and harsh for my liking. It’s not an easy listen as Sinead says, but there’s enough here to keep Radiohead fans going for a while. Bonus points for the excellent artwork too. ‘The Eraser’ is out on 11th of July.
Update:
Thom Yorke ‘The Eraser’ interview on Youtube
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