A Moon Shaped Pool

Several tracks on A Moon Shaped Pool were written years before the recording. "True Love Waits" dates to at least 1995, and Radiohead performed it numerous times over the following years, becoming one of their best-known unreleased songs.[1] Radiohead first worked on "Burn the Witch" in the sessions for Kid A (2000), and again in subsequent album sessions, but were not satisfied with the results.[2] Songwriter Thom Yorke first performed "Present Tense" in a solo set at the UK Latitude Festival in 2009.[3][4]

During the tour for their eighth album, The King of Limbs (2011), Radiohead performed new material, including future Moon Shaped Pool tracks "Identikit" and "Ful Stop".[3] On tour in 2012, they recorded two songs at the Third Man Records studio in Nashville, Tennessee, including a version of "Identikit",[5] but discarded the recordings as substandard.[6] After the tour ended that year, Radiohead entered hiatus and the members worked on side projects.[7]

Jonny Greenwood performing in 2015 with the London Contemporary Orchestra, who appear on A Moon Shaped Pool

Radiohead began work on A Moon Shaped Pool with longtime producer Nigel Godrich in their Oxford studio[8] in September 2014. They were slow to regain momentum after their break[9] and worked in "fits and starts".[10] The Oxford sessions lasted until Christmas.[11] In 2015, Radiohead spent three weeks[12] in the La Fabrique studio near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, building on their Oxford recordings.[8] The studio, originally a nineteenth-century mill producing art pigment, had been used by musicians including Morrissey and Nick Cave and houses the world's largest vinyl record collection.[13]

Yorke had few demos and there was no rehearsal period. According to guitarist Ed O'Brien, "We just went straight into recording ... The sound emerged as we recorded."[12] Instead of using computers, Godrich recorded the band to tape with analog multitrack recorders,[14] inspired by Motown and early David Bowie records.[8] This added creative limits, as rerecording a take meant first erasing the previous take.[14] According to bassist Colin Greenwood, "It forces you to have to make decisions in the moment; it’s very much the opposite of having your album stored on a terabyte hard drive."[8]

Work was interrupted by the recording of "Spectre", commissioned for the 2015 James Bond film. The film producers rejected the song, according to guitarist Jonny Greenwood, as "too dark".[15] Godrich said: "That fucking James Bond movie threw us a massive curveball. It was a real waste of energy ... In terms of making A Moon Shaped Pool it caused a stop right when we were in the middle of it."[16]

For the introduction to "Daydreaming", Radiohead slowed the tape, creating a pitch-warping effect. Digital editing was used on many tracks; for example, Greenwood used the music programming language Max to manipulate the piano on "Glass Eyes".[14] "Identikit" was developed from loops of Yorke's vocals recorded during the King of Limbs sessions.[8] Drummer Clive Deamer, who had performed with Radiohead on the King of Limbs tour[17] and appeared on their 2011 double single "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase",[18] played additional drums on "Ful Stop".[19]

The strings and choir sections were arranged by Greenwood and performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra, with Hugh Brunt as conductor. The orchestra had previously worked with Greenwood on his score for the 2012 film The Master.[7][20] The strings were recorded at RAK Studios in London.[19] For "Burn the Witch", the players used guitar plectrums rather than bows,[21] creating a percussive effect.[22] For "Daydreaming", Greenwood had the cellists detune their cellos, creating a "growling" sound.[23] The song, which Yorke described as a "breakthrough" for the album, was finished early in the La Fabrique sessions.[24] Additional string and choir parts were recorded but cut.[25]

Godrich's father Vic died on the day of the recording of strings for "Burn the Witch". According to Godrich, "I literally left him on a fucking table in my house and went and recorded. And it was a very, very emotional day for me. He was a string player as well so it was one of those things where it felt like he would want me to go and just do this."[16] Around the same period, Yorke announced his separation from his wife, Rachel Owen, who died of cancer several months after the album's completion.[12] The special edition of the album is dedicated to Vic Godrich and drum technician Scott Johnson, who died in the 2012 stage collapse before Radiohead's scheduled show in Downsview Park, Toronto.[26] Yorke told Rolling Stone: "There was a lot of difficult stuff going on at the time, and it was a tough time for us as people. It was a miracle that that record got made at all."[12]

In December 2015, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, Yorke performed three Moon Shaped Pool songs: "The Numbers" (then known as "Silent Spring"), "Present Tense", and "Desert Island Disk".[27] On Christmas Day, Radiohead released "Spectre" on the audio streaming site SoundCloud.[28] Greenwood estimated that 80% of the album was recorded in two weeks.[14] After Radiohead finished work in France, Godrich edited and mixed the album in London.[8]

A Moon Shaped Pool incorporates elements of art rock,[29][30] folk,[31] chamber music,[31] and ambient music.[32] It combines electronic elements such as drum machines and synthesisers, acoustic timbres such as guitar and piano, and Greenwood's string and choral arrangements,[33] which feature more heavily than on previous Radiohead albums.[20] The Guardian characterised A Moon Shaped Pool as more restrained and "pared back" than Radiohead's earlier work.[34]

The songs are sequenced in alphabetical order,[20] which Greenwood said was chosen only because the order worked well.[35] "Burn the Witch" features "pulsating" strings and electronic percussion.[36] "Daydreaming" is an ambient song[32] with a "simple, sad" piano motif, "spooky" backmasked vocals, and electronic and orchestral elements.[37] "Identikit" has a jam-like opening, choral vocals, and "spacey" electronics, and ends with an "agitated" guitar solo.[38][39] "Ful Stop" features "malevolent" synthesiser, a "bustle" of rhythms,[40] and phasing guitar arpeggios.[41] "Glass Eyes" has manipulated piano,[14] strings, and lyrics evocative of an "unguarded phone call".[13]

"The Numbers" begins as a "loose-limbed, early 70s jam session",[31] with strings reminiscent of Serge Gainsbourg's 1970 album Histoire De Melody Nelson.[38] "Present Tense" is a ballad with bossa nova elements.[34] "Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief" features strings, electronic percussion and distorted synthesiser.[42] "True Love Waits", first performed on acoustic guitar over 20 years prior, is performed on piano.[42] The special edition contains two additional tracks: "Ill Wind", featuring a bossa nova rhythm and "icy" synthesisers,[43] and "Spectre", an orchestral piano ballad.[44]

Lyrics

Critics believed singer Thom Yorke's lyrics were influenced by his separation

The lyrics discuss love, forgiveness, and regret with, according to Larson, "a sense that beyond tectonic heartbreak there is an anaemic acceptance that is kind of beautiful if you don't get too sad about it".[20] Several critics felt the lyrics were coloured by Yorke's recent separation from his partner of almost 25 years, Rachel Owen, noting that the backmasked vocals of "Daydreaming", when reversed, resemble the words "half of my life".[20][45][46][47] Spencer Kornhaber of the Atlantic wrote that A Moon Shaped Pool "makes the most sense when heard as a document of a wrenching chapter for one human being".[48]

Other themes include climate change[48] and call for revolution on "The Numbers",[31] and the dangers of authority and groupthink on "Burn the Witch".[49] Yorke asked himself whether it was still possible to write political songs, fearing they alienated some listeners, but decided it was better than writing "another lovey-dovey song about nothing".[50] He was conscious that lyrics such as "a river running dry" and "the system is a lie" were cliches, but felt there was no other way to state them: "How else are you supposed to say 'the system is a lie'? Why bother hiding it? It's a lie. That's it."[50]

The Guardian wrote that whereas Hail to the Thief had addressed the era of Tony Blair and George W. Bush, A Moon Shaped Pool may become the "accidental soundtrack" to the Donald Trump presidency.[34] Of the refrain "one day at a time" from "The Numbers", Yorke said: "One day a time, mate, you will be impeached shortly, mate. You are not a leader, love … You can't sustain this. It's not gonna work. One day a time. We ain't stupid."[50]

The artwork for A Moon Shaped Pool was created by Yorke with longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood.[51] Donwood joined the band in France, and worked in a barn with speakers connected to the studio where they recorded nearby, allowing their music to influence his art.[13] Wanting to move away from figurative art and create work that was more a product of chance, Donwood initially conceived a "painting Dalek" that would squirt paint at canvases, but this proved technically difficult. Instead, he experimented with weather, leaving canvases outdoors to allow the elements to affect the paint. Donwood continued the weathering process in Oxfordshire during the band's winter break, with "completely different results", before photographing the works and editing them in Photoshop with Yorke.[52]

A Moon Shaped Pool special edition

A Moon Shaped Pool was released as a download from 7pm BST on 8 May 2016 on Radiohead's website,[53] online music stores including iTunes Store and Amazon Music,[53] and on paid streaming services including Apple Music, Groove Music, Tidal,[54] and Google Play Music (where it was accidentally released hours early).[55] CD and LP editions were released in Japan on 15 June through Hostess Entertainment[56] and in other countries on 17 June through XL Recordings.[53]

A Moon Shaped Pool was added to the streaming service Spotify on 17 June 2016. Yorke and Godrich had made headlines in 2013 for their criticisms of Spotify, arguing that it cannot support new artists.[57][58] Spotify had been in "advanced discussions" with XL and Radiohead's management to make A Moon Shaped Pool the first album available exclusively to Spotify users with premium subscriptions, but no agreement was reached. Spotify spokesman Jonathan Prince said they and Radiohead had explored "new approaches", but could not overcome technical problems in time.[59]

Radiohead sold a special edition of A Moon Shaped Pool from their website, shipped from September 2016.[60] It contains the album on CD and two heavyweight 12" vinyl records, plus an additional CD with two extra tracks:[61] "Ill Wind" and the previously released "Spectre".[43] The special edition features packaging inspired by the albums for 78rpm shellac records in the La Fabrique studio, additional artwork, and an original piece of master tape, less than a second in length, from one of Radiohead's prior recording sessions. As tape degrades over time, the band decided to include it in the special edition rather than have it "end up as landfill".[61] On 20 June 2020, a white vinyl repress was released through independent online record stores for Love Record Stores Day.[62]

Card sent to fans featuring lyrics from "Burn the Witch"

Radiohead conducted no interviews and did not tour before the release of A Moon Shaped Pool.[63] O'Brien said the band members were not ready to talk about it when it was released: "We didn't want to talk about it being quite hard to make. We were quite fragile, and we needed to find our feet."[12]

On 30 April 2016, days before the album was announced, fans who had previously made orders from Radiohead received embossed cards with lyrics from the lead single, "Burn the Witch".[64] On 1 May, Radiohead deleted all content from their website and social media profiles, replacing them with blank images.[65] Pitchfork interpreted the move as symbolic of Radiohead's re-emergence.[63] Donwood said the idea had been "a way of getting rid of all of what [sic] had gone before ... It was like being some sort of evil Bond villain or something, in some lair, pressing buttons ... It was creatively brilliant fun."[52]

After releasing excerpts on Instagram, Radiohead released "Burn the Witch" as a download on 3 May. It was accompanied by a stop-motion animated music video that homages the 1960s children's television series Trumpton[66] and the 1973 horror film The Wicker Man.[67] Three days later, Radiohead released "Daydreaming", accompanied by a music video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, for whom Greenwood had scored several films.[53] The video was projected in 35mm film in select theatres.[68] On the same day, Radiohead announced that their next album would be released online the following Sunday, but did not reveal the title.[53]

BBC Radio 6 Music played A Moon Shaped Pool in its entirety on the day of release.[69] The following week, Radiohead released the first in a series of video vignettes set to clips from the album by directors and artists including Adam Buxton,[70] Richard Ayoade,[71] Yorgos Lanthimos and Ben Wheatley.[72] This was followed by a fan competition to create a vignette for "Daydreaming".[73] In September and October, Radiohead released video performances of "Present Tense" and "The Numbers". The videos, directed by Anderson, saw Yorke and Greenwood performing with a CR-78 drum machine.[74][75]

On 17 June 2016, the day of the album's retail release, participating record shops held a promotional event, "Live From a Moon Shaped Pool". The event featured an audio stream curated by Radiohead, a recording of their performance at the London Roundhouse,[76] and competitions, artwork and other activities.[77] A participating shop in Istanbul closed following an attack by a gang angered by customers drinking beer and playing music during Ramadan. Radiohead released a statement condemning the attack and offering fans in Istanbul "love and support".[78]

Tour

Radiohead performing at the Zénith Paris, 24 May 2016

Radiohead toured Europe, North America, and Japan from May to October 2016,[79] joined by drummer Clive Deamer.[80] They began a second US tour in March 2017, culminating in April with a headline slot at the Coachella Festival in California.[81] A European tour followed in June and July with further festival shows,[82] including Radiohead's third headline performance at Glastonbury Festival in the UK.[83] In 2018, Radiohead toured North and South America from April to August,[84] including four nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City,[85] with Jonny Greenwood's project Junun as the support act.[86] The tour was the 61st-highest-grossing of 2018, earning over $28 million USD.[87]

The Moon Shaped Pool tour included a performance in Tel Aviv on 19 July 2017, disregarding the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign for an international cultural boycott of Israel.[88] The decision was criticised by artists including musician Roger Waters and filmmaker Ken Loach, and a petition urging Radiohead to cancel it was signed by more than 50 prominent figures.[89] Yorke responded in a statement: "Playing in a country isn't the same as endorsing the government. Music, art and academia is about crossing borders not building them, about open minds not closed ones, about shared humanity, dialogue and freedom of expression."[90]

A Moon Shaped Pool was Radiohead's sixth number-one album on the UK Albums Chart.[91] It reached number one in Ireland, Norway and Switzerland, and the top ten in several other countries. It was certified gold in the UK on 24 June 2016 for sales of over 100,000 copies.[92] Following the retail release in June, A Moon Shaped Pool returned to the top of the UK chart with sales of 44,000. 39,000 were retail copies, including 10,500 vinyl, making it the week's bestselling vinyl record.[93] It was the UK's fourth-bestselling vinyl album of 2016, behind Blackstar by David Bowie, Back to Black by Amy Winehouse, and the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack.[94] "Burn the Witch" was the year's 26th-bestselling UK vinyl single.[94]

In the US, A Moon Shaped Pool sold 181,000 copies in its first week, reaching number three on the Billboard 200, the week's highest debut.[95] It was Radiohead's best American sales week since the debut of Hail to the Thief in 2003.[95] With the release of the special edition a few months later, A Moon Shaped Pool climbed to number 11 on the Billboard 200 and number one on the vinyl album chart, selling 21,000 vinyl copies in one week.[96][97] It was certified gold in the US on 9 November 2018, for sales of over 500,000 copies.[98] The bonus track "Ill Wind", added to streaming services in 2019, reached number eight on the Billboard Alternative Digital Songs chart[99] and number 24 on the Hot Rock Songs chart.[100]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.4/10[101]
Metacritic	88/100[102]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[103]
The Daily Telegraph	[104]
Entertainment Weekly	A[40]
The Guardian	[38]
The Independent	[105]
NME	4/5[106]
Pitchfork	9.1/10[107]
Q	[108]
Rolling Stone	[109]
Spin	9/10[110]

On the review aggregator website Metacritic, A Moon Shaped Pool has a score of 88 out of 100 based on 43 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[102] Patrick Ryan of USA Today wrote that "the brooding, symphonic and poignant A Moon Shaped Pool ... was well worth the wait".[111] Chris Gerard of PopMatters felt it was "worthy of Radiohead's peerless catalog, a rich addition to what is the most vital and important string of rock albums of the last 30 years".[112] Jamieson Cox of the Verge praised the string arrangements and "emotional magnanimity".[113] Andy Beta of Rolling Stone described it as "a haunting, stunning triumph" and Radiohead's "most gorgeous and desolate album", praising its timbres and melodies.[33] Fellow Rolling Stone critic Will Hermes wrote that "it's Yorke's voice that holds the emotional centre, and it's never been more affecting ... [A Moon Shaped Pool is] one of their most musically and emotionally arresting albums."[109]

Sam Richards of NME described A Moon Shaped Pool as "an album of eerie, elusive beauty that is strange, shimmering and uncertain all at the same time".[106] Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote for AllMusic that "there's a melancholic comfort to its ebb and flow, a gentle rocking motion that feels comforting; it's a tonic to the cloistered, scattered King of Limbs and even the sleek alienation of Kid A".[103] Pitchfork editor Jayson Greene felt the album was coloured by Yorke's separation: "The impact of trauma, a sort of car crash of the soul, is palpable. The music here feels loose and unknotted, broken open in the way you can only be after a tragedy."[40] Pitchfork later named "Daydreaming" and "True Love Waits" among the best songs of 2016.[114]

Eric Renner Brown of Entertainment Weekly praised the variety and scale: "By nature, Radiohead albums will always be somewhat epic, but this one is more consistently grandiose than any of the band's releases since 2000's masterpiece Kid A."[40] Jon Pareles, writing for The New York Times, wrote that A Moon Shaped Pool was perhaps "[Radiohead's] darkest statement – though the one with the band's most pastoral surface".[45] He praised Yorke's vocals and Greenwood's string arrangements, writing: "Both Mr. Yorke and Mr. Greenwood are relentlessly inquisitive listeners, lovers of melody and explorers of idioms, makers of puzzles who don't shy away from emotion."[45] Chris Barton of the Los Angeles Times described A Moon Shaped Pool as "a rich and engrossing listen that somehow finds more undiscovered territory for a band that has built a career on doing just that".[115] MTV's Simon Vozick-Levinson wrote: "A Moon Shaped Pool provides a thrilling answer to the existential concerns that confront any band that's made it this far ... After all this time, hearing these five old friends challenge themselves into a new phase of evolution can still blow even a jaded fan's mind."[47]

In The New York Observer, Justin Joffe wrote that A Moon Shaped Pool was "a stunning display of naked vulnerability and a notable achievement ... Radiohead remain dedicated craftsmen of strange new sonic universes."[46] Like Joffe, Nina Corcoran of Consequence of Sound praised the inclusion of older songs such as "True Love Waits", writing that "Radiohead finally feels connected enough to perform them with meaning ... Waiting to release a studio recording of a song over two decades old allowed Radiohead to peel its words when riper than ever."[116] The Guardian writer Lanre Bakare praised the evolution of "Present Tense" from Yorke's earlier "sketchy guitar number" to "beautifully wrought, bossa nova-tinged ballad".[34] Mike Diver of the Quietus, however, felt the older songs created the unwelcome feeling of a compilation album, writing: "Certain tracks feel less than fully fleshed out, really given the treatment that their age warrants ... There's simply so little spark here, barely glowing embers and blackened dust where once Radiohead blazed a fascinating, furious trail for others to attempt to follow."[117]

Jamie Milton of DIY felt that A Moon Shaped Pool needed "another breakneck force shock to the system" similar to "Ful Stop", and that it contained unnecessary elements, such as the "over-tinkering echo" of "Present Tense" and the "jagged closing section" of "Decks Dark". Nonetheless, he concluded: "These are gorgeous, human, complete works – some of the best of [Radiohead's] remarkable career."[118] Alexis Petridis of the Guardian criticised the "suffocating gloom of the lyrics", but felt the album was an improvement over The King of Limbs and that Radiohead had achieved something new.[38]

All tracks are written by Radiohead.

Adapted from the album liner notes.[150]

• Radiohead website