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Although billed as the debut album from the famous cast of characters involved (including Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Flea of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Joey Waronker from Beck and super producer Nigel Godrich) this record sounds and, thanks to another stunning piece of cover art from Stanley Donwood, even looks like a successor to the apocalyptic gloom of Yorke’s 2006 solo effort, The Eraser.
The low shifting bass in lead single 'Default', for instance, creates very much the same sort of oppressively dense soundscape that typified tracks such as 'Black Swan' and 'Cymbal Rush', constantly working to suppress the vague hints of danceability eluded to in the restless percussion and swelling synths. That’s not to say that Atoms for Peace completely lacks its own distinct identity as a project, it’s just that, somewhat perversely, given that we’re talking about what can only be described as a super- group, the songs here are at their best when revelling in a certain anonymity.
Opener 'Before Your Very Eyes' is a case in point, starting out with a Fela Kuti inspired jam in which it’s easy enough to distinguish the hallmarks of the musicians involved, before metamorphosing into an AI clone of itself, Yorke’s broken falsetto the only sign of human life among the lamenting electronics. By the end of the track all evidence of the star-studded line up has been, well, erased…
This is probably down to the creative process used to put together the tracks, which saw Yorke and Godrich going back over lengthy recordings of the bands live jams and improvisations, then stitching the fragments together to create these focused and thankfully egoless compositions.
Whilst that may come as a disappointment to anyone wanting AMOK to sound like the sum of its parts, it’s a huge relief those of us fearing an indulgent collection of half thought out experiments by bored rock stars wanting a break from their day jobs. Either way, the approach certainly works, and tracks like 'Unless', which features so many cut and spliced layers of Yorke’s vocals it’s as if the singer has both literally and figuratively gone to pieces, are easily as engaging as anything on the gorgeous but tired sounding King of Limbs.
