Thom Yorke (much to his own chagrin, I’m sure) is a rock star. He’s been elevated to a level where millions of people admire him, and any weirdness he veers off into, his fans will embrace, if a little hesitantly. He probably doesn’t destroy hotel rooms or sleep with hundreds of groupies, but his originality and categorical distinctness are what make him so interesting. He makes music that forces people to sit up and listen or get left behind. I’m sorry, Thom, but that’s a rock star. You’re a rock star; get over it.
Separating himself from most of Radiohead for one album has done a few things for Yorke. One, he’s not as concerned with melody or consistency. Two, he’s a lot less reliant on guitars and is exploring the soundscapes seen on Kid A. The Eraser is a lot like Kid A, but more optimistic (ironic, considering Kid A contains a song called “Optimistic” that is anything but). He may be doing his own thing, to the exclusion of anything else, but his fans are going along with it. I think Radiohead fans like to be confused; that’s sort of the natural state for them. With a lot of pop acts, we like them at first, but the taste of them eventually sours over time. With Radiohead and Thom Yorke, we have the opposite. While The Eraser may seem incomprehensible and space-cadet at first, give it time. One lesson I’ve learned from my years of interaction with Radiohead’s music is that it needs time to grow on you. That’s true of Thom Yorke’s solo work, as well.
The title track begins the album, and it tells you instantly that this will be a difficult listen. A distorted piano playing a hard-to-follow rhythm continues throughout the whole thing, with a few key changes, just in case you weren’t confused enough already. But the genius of this song is that when examined closely, it’s actually in 4/4 time with a chorus. “Analyse” has a wicked cool groove to it, and is primarily beat driven. The music suggests that it is all about to unravel, and that things may actually be better once it does. In “The Clock,” Thom does that doomy/lilting thing that only he can do, marrying a sense of impending danger to a very soft and malleable melody. “Black Swan,” probably the album’s most single-worthy song, has a great sing-along chorus, or at least hum-along. The entire Eraser album seems like a logical extension of Hail to the Thief, with many of the songs seeming similar to the “I will eat you alive” and “You have not been paying attention” vibe. How strange that The Eraser can very logically follow both Kid A and Hail to the Thief, when those two albums aren’t very similar at all.
Many songs have guitar, but they just provide subtle touches instead of being the main feature of a song, like on The Bends and some of OK Computer. I actually think most of the songs were written on a drum machine; almost the entire album has a very strong beat, if a somewhat discombobulating one. Thom Yorke doesn’t deal in pop sensibilities or mainstream conventions. Amazingly, his popularity only seems to be growing, as is the respect that the music community has for him. What can I say? He’s a rock star.
Analyse
Black Swan
And It Rained All Night
The Clock
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