Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Radiohead

RADIOHEAD

Lotus Flower

From: The King of Limbs
Released: February 18

Slight.  That's the word that comes to mind when I think about The King of Limbs, Radiohead's eighth studio album.  Rush released online on a dreary February Friday (only four days after they'd announced its existence), it seemed like such a letdown after the years of speculation and anticipation that followed In Rainbows, a record which I had decreed upon its release Radiohead's most shocking due to its "play it safe" mentality.  Of all the bands in the world, the one that's most thrilling when it thinks outside the box is Radiohead, and hearing them whip out a batch of tuneful yet unobtrusive songs was a little unsettling to the musical maverick in me.  So, at a glance, The King of Limbs should have been a glorious return to form, the band's defiant pushback at normalcy.  However, after giving the album a few listens, it all felt so... slight.

With a paltry eight tracks in under 38 minutes, it's no wonder conspiracy theorists assumed there was more to TKOL than they'd been led to believe.  Sadly, a couple of throwaway tracks on a 7" notwithstanding, that really was all there was to it.  Its puny runtime was defended in interviews, stating that the band thought 40 minutes the perfect length for a record.  Even still, as Separator closes, you can't hear its fade without thinking, "already?"

Then, there's the issue of stagnation.  It used to be that as Radiohead went, so did the new bands.  Endlessly influential in their heyday, every burgeoning Coldplay on either side of the Atlantic looked to Radiohead for the answers.  On TKOL, however, it's Radiohead simply repeating themselves and looking to other artists; much of the album feels like a distant cousin of Kid A without the thrill of that record's diversity leaving first-time listeners clueless as to what's coming next.  Loops abound on this thing; you get the feeling the band members only had to contribute 45 seconds of total music to the proceedings.  Of course, there's a lot of sounds at work in the background, I'm just saying what's pushed to the front is rather bland and repetitive.  Throw in the fact that on more than one occasion I thought I was listening to something from Liars' first two albums (released 2003 and 2004, respectively), and I couldn't help but wonder if Radiohead has transformed from a fearless band forging a trail for all who dared to follow into a timid band lost in their own metaphoric woods, unsure of their identity, seeking influence from bands they themselves had already influenced?

And this doesn't even touch on the overall tone of the album, which is so damned subdued, do damned slight, that The King of Limbs has the weight of a mighty oak and the bark of a cold and frightened puppy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those guys so stuck in the 90's that I expected another OK Computer; they're never going to be so frantic, hungry and dangerous again.  And the album does have its merits; it makes for the nice occasional chill session, and Lotus Flower's got a really nice groove.  It's just that, as I watch Thom Yorke dance his cares away in its video, I'm also watching him trample on his band's legacy.  I can only hope that this self-described "big move" takes them out of the well-traveled forest they've been exploring and into uncharted territory.  I desperately want to be excited by their journey again.