REVIEW: Thom Yorke releases ethereal new album ‘ANIMA’
Five years following Thom Yorke’s sophomore album “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes,” the Radiohead frontman released his third solo endeavor “ANIMA” June 27 with an accompanying “one-reeler” short film, available via Netflix, set to three of the songs from Yorke’s new record.
For longtime fans of Yorke’s work, including his contributions in Radiohead, supergroup Atoms for Peace and a tremendous solo discography, “ANIMA” is an ethereal and exquisite addition to an already impressive catalog.
“ANIMA” sees Yorke flexing his vocal chops more noticeably than his previous solo efforts among celestial electronic-tinged atmospheres built up with loops and synthesized syncopated chords. While sticking to the significantly more electronically influenced trends of “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes,” Yorke noticeably performs with louder and more confident vocals and brings in some live instrumentation akin to “The Eraser,” his 2006 solo debut.
The album begins with the hypnotic and pulsating “Traffic,” thrusting listeners headlong into the sweeping dystopian world present throughout the record. The following track “Last I Heard (…He Was Circling the Drain)” begins with synthesizers and chords reminiscent of “Interference” from Yorke’s previous solo album.
The song evolves into yet another hypnotic descent into the realm being built, trapping the listener between anxious walls of drum patterns and glitchy synthesizers amid the almost subliminal vocal hook, “I woke up with a feeling that I just cannot take.”
Perhaps most impressively on this record, Yorke is more ambitious in creating sprawling atmospheric moods from the various sounds and exploring them on every cut with longer runtimes. Although “ANIMA” contains only one song more than its predecessor, it boasts a 48 minute runtime, 10 minutes longer than “Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes.”
“ANIMA” marches forward with the multi-faceted progressive cut “Twist,” the longest running track on the record sitting at just over seven minutes. This is inarguably my favorite track as it combines a regimented and electronic introduction and concludes with the same hypnotic beat it began with while swelling and gently descending between gorgeous piano chords, vocal harmonies and padded synthesizers until slowly transitioning into the smooth and ballad-like spoken word “Dawn Chorus.”
Providing softly-spoken and deeply emotional lyrics to the diaphanous “Dawn Chorus,” “I don’t like leaving the door shut, I think I miss something, but I’m not sure what.” Yorke completes the song with the synthesized sounds of “[a] thousand tiny birds singing” as he continues seamlessly into the succeeding “I Am A Very Rude Person,” the first cut on the record featuring a strong bass guitar lead alongside the album’s consistent hypnotic vocal harmonies and choruses.
What follows is easily the most explosive electronic track from Thom since Radiohead’s “Idioteque.” Titled “Not the News,” the track begins with a metronomic synthesizer and deep kick drum among an alarming pitch-bent glitched out melody. Combine this with Yorke’s complex blend of string samples, chopped up vocal lines and deep bass and the result is a desperately danceable anthem.
Slowing down the pace from the previous track, “The Axe” returns with an ambient introduction which evolves into a programmatic lamentation on technology as he croons, “Goddamn machinery, why don’t you speak to me?” Urging the listener, “I’m daring you to turn yourself off” as the clanking of what sound like chains conclude the track.
Tying the proverbial ribbon atop “ANIMA” is another bassline-centric song full of groove and Yorke’s unmistakable falsetto between synth pads and consistent drum loops, “Impossible Knots.”
The final cut off the album, “Runwayaway” introduces fuzzy reverberated guitar chords into the mix of glitched-out bliss offered by “ANIMA,” ending the record almost right where it began in the best way fathomable.
“ANIMA” is an exquisite and ethereal adventure into an anxiety-ridden and tumultuous atmosphere of moods constructed between rising and falling waves of urgency. The sounds on the latest album are standard kit for Thom Yorke but feel significantly more conceptually fleshed out than both previous efforts as tracks flow into one another without interruption and share consistent musical and thematic elements without interruption.
