You join me once again, for the record 26th time, as I keep pushing out content on my blog to talk about some of my favourite bits of horror and scary fiction.
Today’s topic is Radiohead’s sixth studio album, Hail to the Thief. Of all the albums I could have picked, I could have chosen something more typically associated with horror such as metal, or something more associated with Hallowe’en such as Monster or Thriller, or indeed something rather more esoteric and soundscape-esque like Future Sound of London.
But HTTT is an album I really enjoy listening to that contains a lot of these elements itself, without being as on the nose as a lot of metal, as unlistenable as some spooky music, nor as non-scary as pop songs.
The first track 2+2=5 is a statement of intent as far as the album goes. It’s dark, the chord sequences are melancholy bordering on threatening and the odd time signatures and phrase lengths push the song further off kilter. The lyrics (and title, obviously) refers to George Orwell’s 1984 and the idea of some soul-crushing dystopia.
A lot of the album uses similar sonic and musical techniques to create this eerie atmosphere and sense of dread, but most of the tracks call upon a different aspect of fear.
The second track, Sit Down Stand Up, is about the Rwandan Genocide, although it would be difficult to guess that from the lyrics. The blend of live instruments and synthesizers put this album in a bit of an uncanny valley setting, Sit Down Stand Up being perhaps the best example of this.
We Suck Young Blood is the most Hallowe’en track on the album, not only for its title, but also its old-fashioned slightly out of tune piano, making it sound like it came out of a cursed Victorian fairground.
I Will has the vulnerability Radiohead are well known for, with Thom Yorke simply singing and playing guitar. The closeness and intensity of his lullaby-esque voice in this track make him sound like a lost child.
The best known track on the album, There There, has a pretty spooky music video with Thom Yorke running through a forest and being turned into a tree and the multi-percussion drums, played by Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien, as well as the band’s drummer, Phil Selway, give the track an imposingly sinister feel.
The album’s closing track, A Wolf at the Door, one of my favourite RH songs, sums up HTTT nicely. Thom Yorke spits out a kind of beat-poetry, using the imagery we have come to expect from him to string together seemingly random elements of the madness of every day life that could propel us into a dystopia.
The artwork, featured throughout this article, reflects this dystopia too, with maps of city blocks categorised by simple words or slogans. It’s something close to human, but with its humanity stripped back.
Although tracks like Backdrifts and A Punchup at a Wedding are a little lighter-hearted, the impending sense of doom is more present on this record than anything else Radiohead have put out, and considering their discography, that’s some achievement!
That’s my case for Hail to the Thief being a piece of horror fiction up there as unsettling as anything else on this list! Have I convinced anyone?
Matt Hartless Blog 