Thom Yorke- The Eraser

You’re on your way home from the club on a rainy summer night. You’re tired, and feeling introspective after a long night of dancing. You put in Thom Yorke’s new album the Eraser, and suddenly the late night drive becomes an excursion into another dimension of reality altogether. On his first solo album ever, since forming and fronting super-band of the 90’s Radiohead, Thom Yorke delivers a masterpiece of abstract beats and melodies that wind their way into your consciousness like drinking a goblet of slithering sonic cobras. Music that ventures into influences such as Autechre and Aphex twin, we find Mr. Yorke dabbling in the mysticism of such sounds and bringing his vocals up such a notch that you’ll wish you could turn his voice up this loud on his Radiohead albums. Produced by Nigel Godrich, (Beck. Radiohead, Paul Mccartney), the solo album was just announced a mere few months ago, surprising some fans since Radiohead was in the middle of a European tour at the time. Created mostly on his laptop, Thom found the time to take a gazillion samples he had compiled over the years of jamming with fellow band mates, or by himself in hotels on tour, and masterfully turn them into structures of soulful, skyscraper like electro-pop songs. Opening with the title track Eraser, he sings “The more you try to erase me/ The more that I appear”, which tells us that either Thom is still angry with the English tabloids after all these years, or that we are meant to interpret his cryptic lyrics into something more personal, and meaningful for ourselves. Nothing off par there. Towards the end of the emotional track we hear a melody breakdown that seems to be reminiscent of some old classic video game music, but with far more maddening intentions I assume. On the track Skip Divided, A rearing keyboard warble throttles in the background, forcing it’s way up front every so often to remind you of the ambiance in the subtle lyrics like “I caught your voice repeating endlessly, could you guide me in? Could you smother me?”. Somewhere, dancing along with the vocals and keyboard are scratchy drum beats that sound like they have been shot through a blender, diced up, and put on display by a DJ during IDM night at a local club. The album’s closing track, Cymbal Rush, puts on a roulette wheel of styles ranging from pure glitchy techno, folk vocals, and Kid A style Radiohead, to creating a song that is both appealing and appalling at the same time. While this album isn’t for everyone who might be looking to satiate their Radiohead fix until the new album is released, it does serve as excellent late night music, taking you through a roller coaster ride of imperfect grooves that you could easily find soothing your mind during those hours of careful relaxation.

Artist Website/contact- www.theeraser.net