In Rainbows (2007)
In Rainbows is a 2007 alternative pop album by Radiohead.
After leaving EMI, Radiohead released their seventh album themselves and let listeners name their own price, a move as talked about as the songs. The music earns the fuss. In Rainbows finds the band at their warmest and most human, trading cold dread for pulse and desire. Thom Yorke's falsetto floats over the skittering rhythms of 15 Step and the drifting current of Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, while Nude and Videotape ache with restraint. Ten tracks, tightly sequenced, romantic and strange at once. For many listeners it is the most inviting door into Radiohead's catalogue.
Quick answers
What is In Rainbows about?
After leaving EMI, Radiohead released their seventh album themselves and let listeners name their own price, a move as talked about as the songs. The music earns the fuss. In Rainbows finds the band at their warmest and most human, trading cold dread for pulse and desire. Thom Yorke's falsetto floats over the skittering rhythms of 15 Step and the drifting current of Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, while Nude and Videotape ache with restraint. Ten tracks, tightly sequenced, romantic and strange at once. For many listeners it is the most inviting door into Radiohead's catalogue.
When was In Rainbows released?
In Rainbows was released in 2007.
Who made In Rainbows?
In Rainbows is by Radiohead.
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A few thoughts on In Rainbows
Fans of this warmer, aching Radiohead should seek out Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a film with the same bruised tenderness and restless invention. The game Journey chases a similar wordless, transporting feeling, its score swelling into something close to the rush of Weird Fishes/Arpeggi. Both trade in beauty shot through with loss.
Space rock and cosmic art-rock albums for late-night listening
In Rainbows earns its space rock tag through wide, echoing arrangements and Thom Yorke's falsetto drifting over skittering rhythms, and these albums lean into that same cosmic reach. Ummagumma and Station to Station chase widescreen strangeness, Origin of Symmetry pushes the falsetto even further, Music of the Spheres borrows the same atmosphere at arena scale, and 10 000 Hz Legend drifts through a dreamy electronic haze.
The warm, aching record that's a way into a difficult band
In Rainbows is often called the friendliest door into Radiohead, warm and romantic where earlier records kept listeners at a distance. Bossanova is the most tuneful record in the Pixies' noisy catalogue, The Moon & Antarctica softens Modest Mouse's sprawl into something aching, and Songs of a Lost World finds The Cure at their most restrained. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Journey carry that same ache without a guitar.