Now that we’ve had the weekend to absorb The King of Limbs, “Lotus Flower” has emerged as the early standout on Radiohead’s new record. While we know full well that the listening experience has the propensity to change and evolve each time through a Radiohead album, it is clear that “Lotus Flower” is the rock solid core of The King of Limbs. Paced and guided by Phil Selway’s steady and unrelenting percussion, the track is a perfect vessel for Thom Yorke’s haunting voice and spooky lyrics. He wails as the track closes, “The darkness is beneath/ I can’t kick the habit/ Just to feed your fast ballooning head/ Listen to your heart.”
Many have anointed Radiohead the consummate musical innovators: a band that never looks back and always breaks new ground with each record. In most respects this sentiment is spot on, but with this record, and this track in particular, we see Radiohead building on (rather than breaking free from) a sonic foundation made up of the odd, percussive nature of Kid A, the melodic aspects of In Rainbows, and even the eerie compositions of Thom Yorke’s solo record The Eraser. This makes for a track that is unmistakable. It is Radiohead, and you know it. It is amazing, and you know it. We expected nothing less, and these Brits continue to live up to expectations with impunity.
Buy The King of Limbs HERE.
Watch the Thom’s So You Think You Can Dance audition (aka the video for “Lotus Flower”) below.