Words by Sam Zimmerman
Thom Yorke is a dreamer. As the frontman of Radiohead, he and his band have made waves crafting dream-sequences through song for almost three decades. On ANIMA, Yorke’s third proper solo album, he and longtime collaborator/producer Nigel Godrich purposely set out to make a record that fully indulges in the concept of dreams, as well as Yorke’s own obsession with them. It’s a magnificent accomplishment from one of the most influential and important voices in alternative and electronic music.
Coming off 2018’s haunting Suspiria soundtrack, which he claims helped him through an intense period of writer’s block, Yorke sounds occasionally lost on ANIMA – but not in a bad way. It’s like walking through a new city for the first time – maybe you’re feeling equal parts excited and scared, but your friend is helping you navigate, and everything is going to be fine. In this case, Godrich is that friend: it’s been stated in the promotional material leading up to ANIMA’s release that Yorke sent Godrich a batch of unfinished material – samples, beats, grooves – all of which were edited into structured and stable tracks. Taking inspiration from Flying Lotus (who, interestingly enough, collaborated with Yorke on his own tribute to the dream world, 2012’s Until the Quiet Comes), Yorke wrote the songs that would become ANIMA, easily the most cohesive and well-rounded album in his solo discography.
ANIMA begins with “Traffic,” a hazy, percussive track that could have easily come out of Radiohead’s The King of Limbs sessions. The drums, combined with Yorke’s somewhat eerie backing vocals, let down a foggy atmosphere. A fuzzy synth bass infiltrates the mix, and by the time he sings, “Submit/Submerged/No body,” it becomes apparent that this is the most Thom Yorke shit ever, and it’s great. On “Last I Heard (…He Was Circling the Drain),” Yorke pulls us in deeper, singing “Taken out with the trash/Swimming through the gutter/Swallowed up by the city,” over warbly synths and an ecstatic, untraceable programmed drum groove. “Twist,” begins with a spliced, repeated vocal sample that maps out the track’s predominant groove; even as it fades, its presence is noted in the drums and additional samples that replace it. At the track’s close, Yorke quietly pleads, “Look/This face/It isn’t me,” and it’s instantly believable.
The album’s emotional centerpiece, the intensely static “Dawn Chorus,” is among the most beautiful songs Yorke has penned. It’s probably the closest he’s ever come to writing a minimalist composition – the synthetic lines softly build without overly expanding themselves, and the ending is euphoric and reaffirming. On Radiohead’s stunning 2016 release, A Moon Shaped Pool, the gut-wrenching songs appeared in the front (“Daydreaming,”) and in the back (“True Love Waits”), but on ANIMA, Yorke positions this tearjerker in the middle to equal success.
Later album highlight, “Not the News,” features a distressed Yorke shouting his way through molasses, (“I’m in black treacle!”) under a tough dance beat. A delayed vocal effect creates the illusion of his voice barely reaching the surface. Yorke – through use of metaphor and symbolism – continues to deliver his characteristically bleak observations on life, but as technology continues to advance, his effectiveness at doing so has become practically untouchable. Basically, through constant innovation and a commitment to sound, Yorke is making the case that he’s incapable of creating corny music.
Released alongside ANIMA is a masterfully directed short-film of the same name by Paul Thomas Anderson. In the film, Yorke stumbles, slips, slides, crawls, and dances his way through multiple obstacles in effort to return a lost briefcase. He’s established a connection, (he and the owner of the briefcase make eye-contact in the film’s opening moments), and now he must pursue. This can be seen as his way of reaffirming an oath to his fans that he’ll never slow down. Again, this is some very Thom Yorke shit. But that’s why we love him — he’s committed to pushing the envelope; navigating one new city together at a time.