“Tall Tales,” 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 the COVID-19 pandemic, 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’t come as too much of a surprise: Pritchard previously worked with Yorke on the 2016 track “Beautiful People.")
“Tall Tales” captures their shared, endearing spirit of experimentation in a collection of dystopian, prog electronics that will satisfy fans of both artists.
Across the album, Pritchard’s inventive productions often serve as a perfect foil for Yorke’s 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 Radiohead album “OK Computer," evidenced in tracks like “Gangsters" and “The Men Who Dance in Stag’s Heads.” On the later, a droning satire of billionaire self-indulgence, he sings, “We sign their papers/We line their pockets.”
The opening track, “A Fake in a Faker’s World,” serves up a mission statement for the project. There, Pritchard presents a whirlwind of digital sounds, with Yorke’s human voice the sole organic element.
The two tracks that follow are ambient works that seem destined for IMAX films or A24 soundtracks. “Ice Shelf” is cold and glacial as Yorke sings “Standing solo on an ice shelf.” “Bugging Out Again” follows, haunting and dense with retro-futuristic effects.
A strong middle section begins with “Back in the Game.” The opening lyrics evoke the project’s genesis: “Have you missed me? How’ve you been? Back to 2020 again.” As in so much of Yorke’s work, the track blends emotional despair with an infectious musicality.
It is anchored by the album’s two catchiest tracks. “Gangsters” evokes 1980s video games with its use of a Mattel Bee Gees rhythm machine. The wonderfully titled “This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice” follows, with a propulsive electronic pop energy that falls somewhere between Gorillaz and Squeeze.
The final third houses the oddball tracks. The overlapping voices in “Tall Tales” evoke a bardo of unsettled spirits. “Happy Days” features a bouncy carnival beat.
The late songs gradually add analog instruments to the mix, and by the finale, “Wandering Genie,” the initial musical premise seems almost inverted: In the beginning, Yorke's voice was the only organic sound; by the end, it’s 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, “I am falling.” And in 2020, who wasn't?
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Jim Pollock, The Associated Press
