release date: Sep. 26, 2014
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,48]
producer: Nigel Godrich
label: Landgrab - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "A Brain in a Bottle" - 8. "Nose Grows Some"
Second solo album by Thom Yorke released 8 years after his acclaimed solo debut The Eraser from 2006. Again, Yorke works with producer Nigel Godrich and the music is much the debut in the electronic and glitch pop genre. Since the 1st solo album, Yorke has rejoined forces with Radiohead and released two studio albums, and the track "Atoms for Peace" from the solo debut gave name to the eponymous project-band featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea and producer Godrich on keyboards, together with Yorke and several other well-established musicians - initially, just to perform tracks from Yorke's debut album live, but in 2013 this project released the album Amok. From the early Radiohead albums, Yorke has moved from musical styles built on post-rock and alt. rock references, via experimental and art rock to embrace the electronic genre. The interesting aspect about Yorke's turn on electronics is the inclusion and combination of what appears as more piano-based singer / songwriter compositions. Tomorrow's Modern Boxes contains many of the same elements as his first solo album, but I don't find it neither refreshing or really original. It appears both more coherent, and more meditative, but I must admit that I find it somewhat boring. Yorke is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and gifted musicians on this side of the new millennium, and I'm sure he will release great music again.
After this Yorke worked with Robert Del Naja (from Massive Attack) and together they made the music for the Mark Donne documentary "The UK Gold" (2015) (aka "Offshore Incorporated"), which was Yorke's first attempt with soundtrack music.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, The Guardian 3 / 5 stars ]
