Amnesiac

iTunes Review

Recorded during the same sessions as 2000’s Kid A, 2001’s Amnesiac is more of the same with slightly more pronounced vocals and a vague nod towards the group’s guitar-based rock (“I Might Be Wrong”). Kid A threw the guitars to the sidelines, preferring moody keyboards, muted rhythms and atmospheric vocal effects to anything resembling conventional rock music. Amnesiac isn’t as single-minded in its delivery, allowing for greater variety and making for a less cohesive concept album that skates away in several different directions. “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box” begins things with a sparse, otherworldly electronica groove that sounds more like the hangover than the party as singer Thom Yorke sings, whispers, and chants to himself. Radiohead may have left their stylistic debts to ‘90’s guitar rock behind, but they never lose the ennui. “Pyramid Song” plays out as a downcast piano ballad. “Knives Out” shimmers with guitar licks that recall the band’s days as pop songwriters. “Life In a Glasshouse” ends things as a drunken saloon act, as piano, brass band and a crooning Yorke put the night away.