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Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard team up for inventive ‘Tall Tales’
鈥淭all Tales,鈥 the first full-length collaboration between Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and electronic music pioneer Mark Pritchard, captures two prolific artists without much to prove and whole worlds left to explore.
鈥淭all Tales,鈥 the first full-length collaboration between Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and electronic music pioneer Mark Pritchard, captures two prolific artists without much to prove and whole worlds left to explore.
The project was conceived during when Yorke and Pritchard, both working remotely, began exchanging and modifying sound files. A half-decade later, the collaboration journeys back into the isolation of that period and far beyond. (And the partnership shouldn鈥檛 come as too much of a surprise: Pritchard previously worked with Yorke on the 2016 track 鈥淏eautiful People.”)
鈥淭all Tales鈥 captures their shared, endearing spirit of experimentation in a collection of dystopian, prog electronics that will satisfy fans of both artists.
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Across the album, Pritchard鈥檚 inventive productions often serve as a perfect foil for Yorke鈥檚 darker lyrics and mournful vocals.
Pritchard is a synthesizer sommelier, too, utilizing classic vintage electronic instruments dating back many decades, such as the Arp Odyssey, Wurlitzer Sideman and the Minimoog.
Yorke returns to themes of tech dystopia, consumerism and alienation that he has explored since the 1997 evidenced in tracks like 鈥淕angsters” and 鈥淭he Men Who Dance in Stag鈥檚 Heads.鈥 On the later, a droning satire of billionaire self-indulgence, he sings, 鈥淲e sign their papers/We line their pockets.鈥
The opening track, 鈥淎 Fake in a Faker鈥檚 World,鈥 serves up a mission statement for the project. There, Pritchard presents a whirlwind of digital sounds, with Yorke鈥檚 human voice the sole organic element.
The two tracks that follow are ambient works that seem destined for or 鈥淚ce Shelf鈥 is cold and glacial as Yorke sings 鈥淪tanding solo on an ice shelf.鈥 鈥淏ugging Out Again鈥 follows, haunting and dense with retro-futuristic effects.
A strong middle section begins with 鈥淏ack in the Game.鈥 The opening lyrics evoke the project鈥檚 genesis: 鈥淗ave you missed me? How鈥檝e you been? Back to 2020 again.鈥 As in so much of Yorke鈥檚 work, the track blends emotional despair with an infectious musicality.
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It is anchored by the album鈥檚 two catchiest tracks. 鈥淕angsters鈥 evokes 1980s video games with its use of a Mattel rhythm machine. The wonderfully titled 鈥淭his Conversation Is Missing Your Voice鈥 follows, with a propulsive electronic pop energy that falls somewhere between and
The final third houses the oddball tracks. The overlapping voices in 鈥淭all Tales鈥 evoke a bardo of unsettled spirits. 鈥淗appy Days鈥 features a bouncy carnival beat.
The late songs gradually add analog instruments to the mix, and by the finale, 鈥淲andering Genie,鈥 the initial musical premise seems almost inverted: In the beginning, Yorke’s voice was the only organic sound; by the end, it鈥檚 all recognizable instruments and his voice has been digitized beyond recognition. Atop analog flute, bassoon and pipe organ, a mechanical Yorke brings the journey to its coda, repeating the single lyric, 鈥淚 am falling.鈥 And in 2020, who wasn’t?
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