Since its inception, Radiohead has positioned itself as a band of broad musical quality, consistently proposing new concepts with each release. They are a group that achieves a highly effective interpretation due to the connection their minds have with sound. Their reflective and at times, melancholic lyrics serve as a source of pure emotion, resulting in outstanding works within numerous sub-genres of Alternative Rock.
Today, we analyze “In Rainbows”, a very good album released in 2007. As an interesting fact, the band made it available to the public with a unique approach, allowing listeners to pay whatever they wished for it, a compelling act that reflects their idealism as artists.
What can we hear?
A perfect recording and production, ‘In Rainbows’ is mostly minimalist, but when it needs to explode, it does so in a very elegant manner. Throughout the album, we continuously hear a series of textures created through a rich use of synthesizers and guitar effects. Tom Yorke’s voice blends with these textures, and at certain points, we can hear a punk influence in it, as it truly sounds like a means of expression beyond a melodic medium.
‘In Rainbows’ doesn’t attempt to present iconic guitar riffs, as was common in the ’70s or ’80s. Instead, it introduces the sound of a band without individualities, sounds that act as a complete and homogeneous entity. The delicacy of each strum, each sound selected in the synthesizers or piano, the choice of the drum kit, and the silences of each instrument when necessary are attributes of the album that we highly applaud, making the listening experience exceptionally rich.
This work features a variety of well-studied sounds. We can even hear orchestral arrangements in songs like ‘Reckoner’ and ‘Faust Arp,’ among others. These songs build up gradually, but at the same time, we also hear tracks like ‘Bodysnatchers’ that completely break, presenting a beautiful saturation derived from the grittiest elements of punk, grunge, and other genres.
The vintage presence in the album
Every time the album features guitar sections, they are approached with a very vintage sound, likely planned from the choice of guitars to the selection of amplifiers. We can identify a warm ‘VOX’ sound, emanating from the tubes. These nuances are evident in songs like ‘House of Cards’ or ‘Weird Fishes/Arpeggi,’ where a slight, old-school distortion can be heard.
‘In Rainbows’ sounds exactly like what it is: one of the most intriguing bands placed in the best studios in England, with access to worldwide analog and digital equipment, to create this work. The essence of this album lies in the creation of sounds and their arrangement.
The magic of albums lies in listening to them from start to finish, in the proposed order, as it is an intelligent way to approach the work. In ‘In Rainbows,’ it is essential to do so, as the album opens and closes its space at specific moments. For instance, we reach ‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place,’ a song with a lot of power and dynamic speed, only to close the album with the minimalism of ‘Videotape’... simply an auditory masterpiece that keeps you captivated.
