Albums to watch

ANIMA

Thom Yorke

ANIMA

Third solo album from the Radiohead frontman produced by longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich

ADM rating[?]

8.0

Label
XL
UK Release date
28/06/2019
US Release date
28/06/2019
  1. 10.0 |   Evening Standard

    Vast and bold in scope, Anima finds clarity amid confusion: it’s Thom Yorke’s best solo offering
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  2. 9.0 |   Clash

    A record that thrives on a beautiful state of confusion. It’s not a personal record – there’s little here that could possibly be tied explicitly to Thom Yorke’s own life – but it is a highly musical one
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  3. 9.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Probably Thom Yorke’s most beautiful work to date
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  4. 9.0 |   XS Noize

    Thom Yorke with “Anima” may very well have created one of the top Alternative listens of the 2019 summer
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  5. 8.9 |   Paste Magazine

    There’s a good chance ANIMA will be remembered as “The Album With Dawn Chorus On It,” and that’s not a bad problem to have, just one that unfortunately makes it much easier to ignore the other incredible tracks on here. It’s just what happens when you make the centerpiece of your album one of the best songs you’ve ever written
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  6. 8.5 |   Northern Transmissions

    With ANIMA, Yorke takes his already well-built solo repertoire and adds a dash of colour, detail and mystery
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  7. 8.5 |   Under The Radar

    Yorke hasn't lost his touch for making the timeliest of introspective records when his audience needed it the most
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  8. 8.4 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    The Thom Yorke of 2019 has a newfound openness which endears him to us in a way the famously reticent singer never has in twenty-plus years
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  9. 8.3 |   Pitchfork

    The third solo album from Thom Yorke is the first one that feels complete without his band behind him. It floats through the uneasy space between societal turmoil and internal monologue
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  10. 8.3 |   Consequence Of Sound

    The Radiohead frontman releases arguably his finest solo project to date
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  11. 8.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Finally, with ANIMA, it feels as if Yorke is realising his solo vision, from the music to the themes to the rollout – he’s done something radical enough to get out from under Radiohead’s shadow
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  12. 8.0 |   Q

    Anima often comes across like Thom Yorke's very own Black Mirror. Print edition only

  13. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    Where its predecessors attempted to staple classic song structures to abstract strangeness, Anima just lets go
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  14. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    The album’s juxtaposition of lyrical techno-dread with austere, ghostly electronic music is satisfyingly unsettling
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  15. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    One of his consistently best albums and the one that perfectly captures the restless creative spirit that continues to push Yorke beyond his comfort zones at a time in his career where other artists would likely be happily settling into theirs
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  16. 8.0 |   Mojo

    His most emotional response to late-period capitalism. Print edition only

  17. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's third solo album ANIMA offers relatively peppy music to accompany his unsurprisingly bleak lyrical worldview, but it all works rather wonderfully
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  18. 8.0 |   NOW

    It's more electronic than rock, but there's a warmth to it you wouldn't expect
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  19. 8.0 |   The Music

    Despite wishing to erase himself from his music, Anima might be his definitive solo record
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  20. 8.0 |   The 405

    We've heard Yorke's urban terror before, yes, but never so focused and nuanced outside of a Radiohead LP. Its world is immediate, its ideas and emotions impactful
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  21. 8.0 |   Exclaim

    Album centerpiece "Dawn Chorus," a long-gestating song-turned-shell company finally fleshed out for release, finds a reserved Yorke singing plaintively of regret over minimal keys. It's a musical reprieve, certainly, but also ANIMA's most emotionally devastating moment
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  22. 8.0 |   NME

    This is an artfully produced fever dream of an album that, in its doominess, suggests we should continue to pay credence to the prophet Thom Yorke
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  23. 8.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Another dose of dark magic
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  24. 8.0 |   The Independent

    Yorke often tends to make his most explicit political comments outside of music. But there are moments here where you feel his rage
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  25. 8.0 |   The Observer

    Although Yorke sounds refreshed, the results here don’t vary wildly from the Radiohead frontman’s instantly recognisable musical signatures, evolved over 20 years
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  26. 7.6 |   Resident Advisor

    This isn't exactly club music, but Yorke and Godrich write incisive beats and basslines, which they match with ever-interesting sound design
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  27. 7.5 |   Spectrum Culture

    Its revelatory beats create a full spectrum as unnerving as they are welcome
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  28. 7.5 |   Gig Soup

    There is, however, something left to be desired in the project. Though the tracks are impressive, they often lack the resonance of Yorke’s work with Radiohead. Yorke feels as though he is experimenting but never fully reaching his full potential
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  29. 7.0 |   All Music

    Against all odds, Yorke's eerie electronic shimmer doesn't inspire fear so much as console; in this dark time, it's reassuring to hear a human heart beating the digital clutter
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  30. 7.0 |   DIY

    Ultimately a trip down the rabbit hole worth taking
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  31. 4.0 |   The FT

    The production is atmospheric and often dynamic but the compositions themselves are structurally flat
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