Singer Thom Yorke has a gorgeous, yearning voice, but instead of drawing you close, he often uses it to freeze you out. He’s always written casually vicious lyrics–“We hope that you choke” from “OK Computer” is a personal favorite–but “Hail to the Thief” seems bent on setting new records for emotional distance (“We can wipe you out anytime”; “We are accidents waiting to happen”). The intention is to evoke the way modernity slowly grinds people to dust–one of this group’s career-long obsessions. Still, on the first single “There There,” when –Yorke repeats “Just because you feel it, doesn’t mean it’s there” again and again, you feel embarrassed for getting so engrossed, as if you’ve slept with someone too quickly. Artists warning us not to trust our response to their art? Ouch. Radiohead may never stop being a band to admire, but they’re no longer a band you can love.
