The King of Limbs Radiohead

By Marley Malenfant/feature editor

For all the Radioheads out there, The King of Limbs offers eight tracks to get your Thom Yorke on.

The majority of beats on The King of Limbs are slow-electronic beats with low-pitched guitar riffs throughout the eight tracks. Longtime Radiohead fans may think The King of Limbs is a remastered version of the group’s 1997 album OK Computer.

On the opening track, “Bloom,” the beat has a hip-hop-like loop with a speedy snare. The beat turns into electronic jazz when the bass line and horns come in. Yorke sings at a whisper that’s hard to hear, but it relaxes the listener.

On “Morning Mr. Magpie,” Yorke sounds as though he’s giving someone a verbal middle finger when he barks, “You got some nerve coming here. You stole it all, give it back. Good morning, Mr. Magpie. Now you stole all the magic to my melody.”

“Feral” is mostly an instrumental track with a quick snare, a deep bass line and Yorke just humming over the beat.

“Lotus Flower” has more of the experimental electronic beats with a high-pitched Yorke singing over a low bass.

“There’s an empty space inside my heart where the wings take root, so now I’ll set you free, I’ll set you free,” he sings.

Yorke sings over a lullaby piano roll on “Codex.” The song is slow enough to take a nap to.

“Give Up the Ghost” sounds like a bluegrass country song. The listener may wonder if the song belongs on the same album or if Yorke had an underground solo bluegrass album.

“Separator” goes back to the electronic-jazz beats that “Codex” and “Give Up the Ghost” left off.

With eight tracks, the album may leave longtime fans wanting more. The King of Limbs has a relaxed approach.

It’s not OK Computer, but Radiohead showed it’s not afraid to experiment.