Yorke's solo debut chaotic but pleasant

Radiohead front man's newest release keeps with ethereal tradition.

By Hannah Hayes

Published July 12, 2006

It is surprising to find the shared attribute between Thom Yorke's The Eraser and Velveeta cheese: mostly processed, few real ingredients, yet enjoyable.

Yorke, Radiohead's frontman and a man worshiped in the temple of all things esoteric, has never been famous for simplicity. Although The Eraser seems to be more understandable than his previous efforts, there is still that sense of the intangible — but it's not in his lyrics.

Most of The Eraser is comprised of the ethereal from Yorke's computer and unrecognizable Radiohead beats, even the strangely placed piano and guitar samples.

One of the stranger sounds he has created comes at the end of The Eraser, a sound like the fuzzy background music to a cheap mall-arcade game.

It's possible to find yourself lost in the random aspects of the songs, no matter how complicated or simple they are. Yorke's voice is the only thing that seems to be able to guide you through the synthesized chaos he has created.

This doesn't mean the chaos Yorke has conjured doesn't have its beautiful moments.

Yorke's alluring falsetto in "Atoms for Peace" is contrasted by its political message, which can be found in many of The Eraser's tracks.

Nigel Godrich, Radiohead's producer, didn't want Yorke's voice to become lost in the electronic mess of beats. In fact, he made Yorke's voice as dry and human as possible — a beautiful and interesting contrast to the ghostly beeps and blips, especially in the song "Skip Divided."

Environmentalism and politics compile the message of Eraser. Yorke refers to the place where Dr. David Kelly killed himself after he revealed British Prime Minister Tony Blair's administration falsely identified biological weapons in Iraq ("Did I fall or was I pushed?/And where's the blood?') in the song "Harrowdown Hill."

Another influence on Eraser's lyrics and cover art is the legend of King Canute the Great, who stood before the ocean, raised his hand and commanded it to stop.

The Eraser hasn't erased Yorke's obscurity, and the synthesized additives leave you with little to taste instrumentally. But Yorke's voice, that one real component, is enough to leave your ears satisfied.