A MOON SHAPED POOL

Emerging after a five-year period of post-King of Limbs dormancy, Radiohead evidently spent the downtime shifting gear yet again. Just as they'd shifted from grouchy, misanthropic indie rock to esoteric prog-tinged indie guitar symphonies between The Bends and OK Computer, and then shifted again to abrasive electronica for Kid A and the subsequent releases, this time around they've managed to pull off another surprise by shifting gear to their gentlest sound ever, with a sort of Radiohead-ified modernised Scott Walker narrative on the opening Burn the Witch setting the scene for what's going down from there on.

This progressive chamber pop sound presents a new musical frontier for Radiohead to occupy, and they manage to do it perfectly; it's perhaps the most accessible thing they've done since OK Computer, though equally I can see how they needed to go through all the electronic hinterlands they have explored since then in order to arrive at this sound.