Radiohead Return with ‘Burn the Witch’

radiohead world tour
Image source: upsetmagazine.com

After erasing themselves completely from the Internet, Radiohead are of course back with a new single. No surprises here really, but I do quite admire the way they teased this track. The first in 5 years from perhaps one of the most critically acclaimed bands of all time, Radiohead can spark hype from doing anything at this point, disappearing from the Internet quickly gave fans the “How To Disappear Completely” lines, it was quite genius how they did this.

Also, it could even fit into the theme of this song, “stay in the shadows” opens the track in the most Thom Yorke of ways, “avoid all eye contact”, there’s this paranoid undertone in the lyrics here that makes it feel like there’s a serious reason to go into hiding. “Red crosses on wooden doors”, it’s like Thom Yorke is warning us all of something he sees that we might not be seeing ourselves, it’s like we’re all the vulnerable ones and he’s the authority figure in charge. “This is a low flying panic attack”, seriously I’m leaning against a wall as I’m writing this but I still feel like I need to check over my shoulders in case someone’s watching, Radiohead have got me scared here. But they certainly warned us all here, that has to be said.

Now, you can decode Radiohead’s lyrics all day and there’ll still always be hidden messages there, that’s just how they do it, but musically here, I’m quite underwhelmed. The beat is a fairly standard one for their usual style, and the vocals don’t quite feel like an extra instrument as they have done in the past, they fit over the music in a fairly normal way, although I must say I’m impressed with the vocal performance in the verses. It feels like something’s not right, which I suppose does fit in well with the theme of the song, but Radiohead could’ve made this impact in a bigger way.

The instrumental isn’t bad by any means, the strings add a nice touch, but it all feels a little familiar. Not as electronic as previous efforts, but the textures just aren’t there on this one, it’s all a bit ordinary. As much as I hate to say it, it would bypass everyone if this was a song by any band. Perhaps it will feel different in context with the rest of the album that this is included on, but until then, it’s a decent track.




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