Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat
Loyal Radiohead fans got first dibs on a true treasure when the band sent out their special edition vinyl box set of their most recent album A Moon Shaped Pool this week. It contained a CD of previously unreleased B-Sides including “Spectre”, the once potential theme song of the most recent James Bond movie, and “Ill Wind”. The album release was awaited with great suspense, and it’s clear why; with the listening party being attacked by radical Muslims, and that intense unboxing video they posted on the Radiohead website and circulated via various social media outlets, now the album is leaking pure gold?!
“Ill Wind” is a track from the typical Radiohead we all know and love. With the classic contrast of chaotic instrumentals and Yorke’s slow, eery singing voice, the song has the feel of early Radiohead sometime between the Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows periods. They use synthesizer effects as plentifully as a painter would use pigments, and all the shades of sound come together in the beautifully colorful audio masterpiece that Radiohead is famous for. Lyrically, the song has the typical Thom Yorke ambiguity that could make it equally as applicable to love as to the current corrupt state of the government. The repetition of the chorus and extensive punctuation in between by pure instrumentals that make up the 4 minute and 16 second song give you time to think and decide for yourself (well, multiply that by how many times you’re going to want to listen to it consecutively).
Leave a Comment