A Moon Shaped Pool Review

"A Moon Shaped Pool" is the ninth studio album from British artist Radiohead.  With their previous album "The King Of Limbs" garnering mixed reviews, Radiohead had the pressure on to deliver something to the caliber of "In Rainbows" to show fans that the band's best days weren't behind them, and they certainly delivered.  "A Moon Shaped Pool" is a very depressing, introspective record that highlight's Yorke's howling cries and the band's orchestral, ambient production value.  

The albums starts out with the single "Burn The Witch" (which I did a track review for  http://the808smusicreview.blogspot.com/2016/05/burn-witch-track-review.html).  The song sets the tone for the record as the anxiety builds steadily making for an overwhelming song to kick the record off.  "Decks Dark" and "Desert Island Disk" are two solid tracks that keep the momentum of the album moving smoothly as "Decks Dark" is an airy treat that accompanies Yorke's vocals with piano keys and plenty of amibence and "Desert Island Disk" is driven by a Spanish guitar riff that keeps you glued in.

The second half of the album is filled with somber, down right depressing tracks such as "Glass Eyes" and "True Love Waits".  Radiohead really dives deep into some interpersonal aspects of being alone, what you think of when you feel lost in a big world, and everything in between.  "The Numbers" is definitely one of the more ambitious tracks on the album.  It sounds like something The Beatles would've released orchestrally off of Sgt Peppers but it mixes well with Yorke's vocals and the bass line and guitar riff are rock solid.  The album feels like a mix of "Kid A" and "In Rainbows" as the band really blends together what made them successful in the past.  The alien-like, overly strange lyrics represent the time period in which the band switched over to a more electronically driven sound, and the overly ambient, sequential riffs featured on "In Rainbows" make a comeback for a similar rendition on "A Moon Shaped Pool".

Final Summary:

"A Moon Shaped Pool" was exactly the type of album I wanted to hear from Radiohead.  The band has released so much groundbreaking material over their 20+ year music career but I feel they took snippets of the best elements from each of their albums to concoct and perfect their sound on this record.  The album is downright depressing at some points but in true Radiohead fashion, they make you forget because the music is so goddamn good.  The band by far topped their previous release and gave the die hard Radiohead fans exactly what they wanted.

Rating: 9.0/10

Check out my previous Radiohead reviews as well!

http://the808smusicreview.blogspot.com/2016/03/in-rainbows-review.html

http://the808smusicreview.blogspot.com/2016/02/kid-review.html

http://the808smusicreview.blogspot.com/2016/03/ok-computer-review.html