Radiohead - In Rainbows

By Taina Boehm

We probably all know this experience, emblematic of music die-hards. We discover an album and dig our claws in deep, hanging on as it fast-tracks the pale theme of our current month out of depression and back to radiance. We discover a new lease on life by way of falling in love with a 42 minute-potion of pretty sounds and devastating words. I don’t remember who said this - alas it sadly wasn’t me - but it describes my relationship to Radiohead’s seventh studio album, one of my all-time favourites, succinctly. “Music is so fucking beautiful. It kills me, and gives me life.” 

In Rainbows has been killing and reviving me for exactly 9 years. I first heard it in my early twenties thanks to an ex-boyfriend, and immediately fell in love…with the album. I left that arrangement with a toolbox brimming with abundant relief and my new love, Radiohead. Since then, In Rainbows and all its gifts has been in rotation on every music-playing device I’ve owned. I love it because it’s fucking brilliant, like a rainbow with ten perfect colours instead of seven. Dark and triumphant, delicate and stormy, a beautifully surreal, intense encapsulation of human emotion. 

Fav Tracks: Other than the fact that every song on this album is a masterpiece, the conditions of its release in 2007 are also notable, as this is the first album by Radiohead to be sold as a pay-as-you-want download. Just when it couldn’t get any better, good juju too! The first track, “15 Steps”, presents some hints re: the range of emotions contained within this album. As an opener, it speaks volumes for the immaculate production and intimate quality of the blending of guitar chords, electronic drums, melodic basslines, and the woozy oozy magical vocals of Mr. Thom Yorke coursing throughout the record. 00:41 gives me the sexual eebie jeebies; listen somewhere safe ‘cause you’ll wanna close your eyes for it. 

“Bodysnatchers” is a beautiful mess of distortion and wailing, a high-speed chase with pieces flying off in every direction. This one vividly showcases the insane musical mastery that brothers Colin and Johnny Greenwood are famous for, on bass and guitar respectively. It’s fast and rough, ergo it’s my go-to for blowing off steam. Use caution when driving. 

“Nude” is, well, nude. Painfully powerful in its minimalism, the opening line “Don’t get any big ideas/they’re not gonna happen” delivers a sensual, slo-motion punch to the gut by way of Thom’s lilting, stringy voice, teased over 8 bars. This song is stunning, and if aliens ever come for Earth this is what I’m using to get on their good side. 

I couldn’t and still can’t make out the lyrics of “Reckoner” but there’s something about the crescendo of vocals, strings, and tambourine, contrasted with a dark descending bassline during the final chorus that renders me absolutely stomachless. On more days than not, this track is my favourite on the album. It can be the soundtrack to your despair or joy because let’s be honest, who knows what it’s supposed to be, besides otherworldly moving. 

En fin, “Videotape” greets us at the end of the record and of life, with an outro of hauntingly sad piano and a distant looping hi-hat. I’ve always appreciated how obvious it is for a final song and as a farewell in so many ways.

For lack of attempting a better conclusion to this piece, I’ll just quote Thom from “Videotape”, and may In Rainbows give you life and break your heart the next time you choose to listen. “This is my way of saying goodbye/Because I can't do it face to face”. Ouch…