Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool

There is profound beauty in this album and profound sadness, affected by their woes in the studio (including the ill-fated title track for Spectre, which the studio rejected but appears on the deluxe edition) and the end of Thom Yorke's marriage, yielding almost 52 minutes of swirling fog and ambience. Lyrics wash over you, beat changes add occasional colour, but the resignation and moroseness yields an almost monochromatic soundscape that envelops the entire first side and much of the second. "Burn The Witch" starts credibly enough, the sci-fi lyrics of "Decks Dark" are interesting and "Ful Stop" and "Identikit" break up the viscosity, but for all its high quality technique and emotion it's really an album one could only drown in. Flailing about as you sink under the audio, no bottom beneath your feet as your struggles weaken, your last thoughts as it all fades are the silver sky and the darkness below. I think that's an artistic achievement; I'm just not sure what of. (Content: no concerns.)

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