Radiohead release follow up to Burn The Witch

Here we find Thom Yorke popping out for a pint of milk and ending up, quite literally, down the rabbit hole.

The track has the feel of those Jonny Greenwood soundscapes that have so tragically appeared too sparsely. The off beat right hand on the piano bleeds melancholy. If you actually listen to track it could be a Jon Brian composition, or even Phillip Glass. They are the company Radiohead now keep as musicians.

Thom Yorke does his normal vocal slurring over the top but maybe now, more than ever, there is a feeling of it all ending. This is a song of resignation, almost of the end of hope, but never a white flag. In the video Yorke searches for a spark and in the end he finds it, but just lays next to it. Many doors leading to many more doors.

There could be many interpretations of this video, he seems to be moving through rooms and different scenes without caring, perhaps an admission of a life somehow under lived. He fact he returns into the earth and finds fire, so often a sign of death, maybe relates to his own health.

If this is an indicator of mortally, as if we needed another one this year, then it is beautifully done. A man wanders through civilisation and departs by returning to the ground.

Maybe it’s because of Bowie’s final messages, coded in subtlety, or maybe i’m just getting sentimental. I hope so. To lose another genius would be so unfair.

If this is Radiohead’s farewell note, or merely just a reflective moment. It’s one of their best.