Radiohead - Daydreaming (2016) [FLAC]

Radiohead
“Daydreaming”
Throughout the course of their career (and especially over the last few months) Radiohead have proven that they can cause a stir over pretty much anything they do. Whether they’re registering an LLC or just making changes to their website’s HTML, people will notice, and people will freak out. It should not be surprising then, in “Daydreaming,” a gorgeous ballad released to coincide with their long-awaited album announcement, how little actually happens. There’s a simple, sad piano motif; some spooky backmasked vocals; and, of course, Thom Yorke’s devastated wheeze floating above it all like an omniscient narrator. The fittingly dramatic orchestral and electronic flourishes that dip and bob throughout its second half create a similarly disorienting effect to the staccato strings in “Burn the Witch,” but whereas that single was all nervous energy, this one feels more like the calm before the storm. “We are just happy to serve you,” Yorke sings near the song’s conclusion: a less ominous transmission than the last time we heard him employ the royal we (“We know where you live”) but an equally momentous one. It’s a gentle, generous admission from a band who knows we’re watching their every move—and who wouldn’t have it any other way.