Earlier this month, legendary English rock band Radiohead announced that they will celebrate the 20th anniversaries of their Kid A and Amnesiac albums with a deluxe reissue titled Kid A Mnesia. Alongside the announcement, the band shared the never-before-heard song titled “If You Say The Word” as a teaser for the project. Today, Radiohead shared a bizarre music video for this slick, jazz-infused track.

“If You Say The Word” is a trippy and melodic experience. The song features lush synth arrangements and a haunting ambience. Hypnotic drums languidly intermingle with delicate instrumentation that includes deft finger-picking and foreboding chimes. Lead singer Thom Yorke’s songwriting on this track is patently Radiohead. The lyrics are incredibly vivid though they still maintain an enthralling vagueness that bewitches the ears and beckons for the mind to introspect a level further. Yorke’s vocals are evocative and further enhanced by a powerful reverb effect that cuts through the mix like a sharpened knife, especially in the mellifluous and ringing chorus.

The music video for this track embraces the abstract. Directed by Kasper Häggström, this video follows a crew of rural farmers who are rounding up business people and returning them to their natural environment in the city. The targets of prey seem confused and bewildered as they wander around aimlessly in the countryside. Once the suits are returned to the concrete jungle via a truck, they are given briefcases and sent on their way, like rehabilitated animals being reintroduced to their homeland once more. The video closes with images of a businessman miming his fellow humans and embarking on a journey with a sense of uneasy conviction.

The new Kid Amnesiae disk of this project will largely consist of alternate versions of previously released songs. “Like Spinning Plates (‘Why Us?’ Version)” and “Fog (Again Again Version)” and “Pulk/Pull (True Love Waits Version)” are some tracks that will be featured on the project that will drop on November 5.

Radiohead originally formed in 1985 in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The band has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and are considered one of the most influential artist of all time. In 2019, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Earlier this month, Radiohead and video game company Epic Games teamed up to tease The Kid A Mnesia Exhibition in a short trailer. The teaser trailer features a retro video filter and images of symbols and icons. In July, Thom York released an entirely new mix of his band’s classic hit, “Creep.” Entitled “Creep (Very 2021 Rmx),” this version of the song is considerably slower and features harsh and chaotic synths.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat