Album Review: Radiohead – In Rainbows

I’m the kind of girl who’s usually fashionably late to a wide variety of social functions. However, and I have to hold my head in shame, I’m embarrassingly late to the Radiohead party this go round. I have only this week heard the wonder that is In Rainbows, after procuring a hard copy for myself on New Year’s Day. Call me crazy, but I had this wacky, old-fashioned notion about needing to keep my Radiohead album collection tangible, and thusly defied my urges to download the album months ago (like the rest of world’s general populace did). And after listening I have but one question: is it too late to change my mind about my number one album of 2007? Because as much as I loved the National’s latest effort, it (and everything else) falls well short.

I would hope you’re already familiar with Radiohead, so we’ll skip right over the bio and background information. For those of you that don’t yet know, there are ten tracks on this album. They’re all unfathomably awesome, ridiculously remarkable, and majestically stunning. There are so many sounds and textures on this album it almost overwhelms, but being that Radiohead know how to make a record it never quite becomes too much. It’s the kind of album that makes you shut your eyes, turn the volume up as loud as your eardrums can stand, and wish you could drown in the music. In Rainbows will take you to a haunting yet ultimately beautiful place. Already it has sent shivers down my spine, given me goosebumps, and made my heart ache with joy. That’s not me blowing smoke up anyone’s ass, them’s just the facts, folks.

Sure, Radiohead have become one of the World’s Biggest Bands, and it’s probably even trendy to scoff at them. If it was any other band, I might just be among the scoffers. But let’s not kid ourselves, Radiohead has been a steady source of heart-breakingly magnificent music for over ten years now, and In Rainbows is no exception. While The Bends remains my personal favorite album, I will always passionately love Mister Yorke and co. for continuing to twist and mutate their sound, shape-shifting and metamorphosizing all the while managing to remain unmistakably Radiohead. If you don’t already own In Rainbows, please take whatever steps necessary to immediately rectify the situation. You owe it to yourself, your eardrums, and your soul.