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Radiohead may grow more self-consciously “avant” with each successive disc (though, based on live previews, rumour has it their forthcoming album is a step back toward more conventional rock), but Thom Yorke’s stripped-down side project – he refuses to call it a solo effort – is a curious, almost quaint concoction of what sounds like mournful folk songs made out of electronic bits. Thanks to producer Nigel Godrich, Yorke’s frayed-nerve falsetto is clearer and more central than it’s been on any Radiohead album since OK Computer. The spare melodies and bleeps-and-loops approach result in chillingly direct songs. And within that framework, The Eraser has an impressive range: It Rained All Night matches urgent percussion reminiscent of Born Slippy with hollow chanted mantras, Atoms For Peace is like Kubrick doing a traditional protest song, and Harrowdown Hill (inspired by the suicide of a military-affiliated microbiologist) wraps Enoesque synths around a funky bass line while Yorke moans about groupthink.
