Anima | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 27 June 2019 | |||
Genre | Electronic | |||
Length | 47:44 | |||
Label | XL | |||
Producer | Nigel Godrich | |||
Thom Yorke chronology | ||||
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Anima is the third studio album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 27 June 2019 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Yorke's longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich.
Anima comprises electronic music developed through live performances and studio work, with themes of anxiety and dystopia. It was accompanied by a short film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, which was released on Netflix and in select IMAX theatres, and a music video for "Last I Heard (...He Was Circling the Drain)". Yorke embarked on an international tour to support the album; later dates were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anima became Yorke's first number-one album on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart. It received positive reviews and was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package at the 2020 Grammy Awards. The Anima film received acclaim and was nominated for the Grammy for Best Music Film. The album was followed by the Not the NewsRmx EP, featuring an extended version of "Not the News" plus remixes.
Yorke wrote Anima following a period of writer's block and anxiety. [1] Inspired by seeing the electronic musician Flying Lotus improvising live with loops, Yorke and his longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich developed Anima through live performances and studio work. Yorke would send Godrich "sprawling" unfinished tracks and Godrich would edit them into shorter samples and loops, which Yorke wrote vocals to. [1]
Yorke and Godrich performed several Anima tracks, including "Not the News", on the tour for Yorke's previous album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes (2014). [2] Philip Selway, the drummer for Yorke's band Radiohead, contributed "sped-up drums" to "Impossible Knots". Joey Waronker, the drummer for another Yorke project, Atoms for Peace, appears on the end of "The Axe". [3]
Anima comprises electronic music with "layers of electronic fuzz and deconstructed noise". [1] Pitchfork characterised it as "full of wraithlike frequencies and fibrillating pulses". [4] Yorke said its themes include anxiety and dystopia; he felt that dystopian environments were "a really good way of expressing anxiety creatively". [1] The title Anima, a reference to the psychoanalyst Carl Jung's concepts of the anima and animus, came from Yorke's interest in dreams. [5]
The Independent likened the opening track, "Traffic", to the "heady grooves and pulses" of the electronic artist Floating Points. [6] "Dawn Chorus" is a "reverential song about loss, nostalgia, and regret" with "hushed", almost-spoken vocals. [4] The "Not the News" melody resembles a ticking clock [7] and builds to a "mass of chaotic orchestration". [8] "Impossible Knots" features a "propulsive electric bassline". [4] The final track, "Runwayaway", has "trance-like" blues guitar. [4]
Anima | |
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Directed by | Paul Thomas Anderson |
Based on | Anima by Thom Yorke |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Darius Khondji |
Edited by | Andy Jurgensen |
Music by |
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Production company | Pastel Productions |
Distributed by | Netflix |
Release date |
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Running time | 15 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Anima was accompanied by a 15-minute film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It was played in some IMAX theatres and released on Netflix on the day of the album release. [9] The film features Yorke's partner, the actress Dajana Roncione, plus choreography by Damien Jalet, cinematography by Darius Khondji and projections by Tarik Barri. [3] In the film, Yorke rides a train of uniformed passengers ("Not the News"), meets the eye of a woman (Roncione) and pursues her when she forgets her bag ("Traffic"). They meet in the street, dance together and board a tram ("Dawn Chorus").
The film began with a concept from Yorke about workers whose "bodies don't work any more" and are being "pushed by an invisible force". The team wanted the first sequence to be "oppressive and hyper-precise so it feels like a machine", influenced by dystopian stories such as Nineteen Eighty-Four and Metropolis and the physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin. [10] For the "Traffic" sequence, the team created a platform inclined at a 34-degree angle and placed the camera at the same angle, erasing the slope. [10]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 100% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10.The website's consensus reads: "Thom Yorke's eerie compositions blend perfectly with Paul Thomas Anderon's ethereal direction to form a bewitching meditation on alienation and what it means to connect." [11] It was nominated for Best Music Film at the 2020 Grammy Awards. [12]
Anima was promoted with a viral marketing campaign. In June 2019, posters in cities around the world appeared advertising "Anima Technologies", a company claiming to be able to recover lost dreams with a "dream camera". Calling the advertised number led to a prerecorded message advising that Anima Technologies had been "seized" after "unlawful activities", followed by part of the track "Not the News". [13] This was followed by projections on London landmarks. [14]
Yorke announced Anima on social media on 20 June. [9] It was released as a download and on streaming services on 27 June 2019, followed by CD and vinyl editions on 19 July 2019. The vinyl edition includes a bonus track, "Ladies & Gentlemen, Thank You For Coming". [15]
On 2 August, Yorke released the Not the NewsRmx EP on digital platforms, comprising an extended version of "Not the News" plus remixes by Mark Pritchard, Clark and Equiknoxx. A limited-edition white-label vinyl version followed. [16] A music video for "Last I Heard (...He Was Circling the Drain)", blending 16mm, 3D and cel animation, was released on 30 October. [17]
To support Anima, Yorke embarked on an international tour, performing with Godrich and visual artist Tarik Barri. [18] A North American tour was due to begin in March 2020, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [19]
Anima entered at number 50 on the UK Albums Chart, and re-entered at number five following its retail release three weeks later. [20] It was Yorke's tenth UK top-ten album (including his work with Radiohead), and his second top-ten solo album (after his 2006 album The Eraser ). [21] Anima became Yorke's first number-one album on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart, selling 10,000 album-equivalent units in the week ending July 25, nearly all from traditional sales. [22] "Traffic" was Yorke's first entry on the Dance/Electronic Songs chart, and reached number 47. [22]
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 8.0/10 [23] |
Metacritic | 84/100 [24] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [25] |
The Daily Telegraph | [26] |
The Guardian | [27] |
The Independent | [28] |
Mojo | [29] |
NME | [30] |
The Observer | [31] |
Pitchfork | 8.3/10 [4] |
Q | [32] |
Rolling Stone | [33] |
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Anima has an average score of 84, based on 28 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". [24] Philip Sherburne of Pitchfork awarded it the week's "Best New Music", writing that it was Yorke's most ambitious and assured solo album and the first that felt complete without Radiohead. [4] The Guardian critic Alexis Petridis observed "a preponderance of dance rhythms" but "very little of dance music's propulsive dynamics", and felt the melodies were "fragmentary and vaporous". He concluded that Anima was "like a glimpse through an artist’s sketchbook, interesting rather than essential". [27] At the 2020 Grammy Awards, Anima was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. [12]
Publication | List | Rank |
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Afisha Daily (Russia) [34] | The Best Foreign Albums of 2019 | 14 |
GQ (Russia) [35] | The 20 Best Albums of 2019 | — |
All lyrics are written by Thom Yorke; all music is composed by Nigel Godrich and Thom Yorke
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Traffic" | 5:16 |
2. | "Last I Heard (...He Was Circling the Drain)" | 5:06 |
3. | "Twist" | 7:03 |
4. | "Dawn Chorus" | 5:23 |
5. | "I Am a Very Rude Person" | 3:44 |
6. | "Not the News" | 3:56 |
7. | "The Axe" | 7:00 |
8. | "Impossible Knots" | 4:20 |
9. | "Runwayaway" | 5:56 |
Total length: | 47:44 |
No. | Title | Length |
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10. | "(Ladies & Gentlemen, Thank You For Coming)" | 4:55 |
Total length: | 52:39 (LP) |
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Anima. [36]
Chart (2019) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [37] | 23 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [38] | 19 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [39] | 10 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [40] | 21 |
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [41] | 58 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [42] | 12 |
French Albums (SNEP) [43] | 33 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [44] | 21 |
Irish Albums (IRMA) [45] | 19 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [46] | 15 |
Japan Hot Albums ( Billboard Japan ) [47] | 29 |
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [48] | 14 |
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA) [49] | 24 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [50] | 27 |
Polish Albums (ZPAV) [51] | 35 |
Portuguese Albums (AFP) [52] | 5 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [53] | 4 |
South Korean Albums (Gaon) [54] | 86 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [55] | 13 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [56] | 12 |
UK Albums (OCC) [57] | 5 |
US Billboard 200 [58] | 59 |
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) [59] | 1 |
Chart (2019) | Position |
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US Independent Albums [60] | 36 |
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. They comprise Thom Yorke ; brothers Jonny Greenwood and Colin Greenwood (bass); Ed O'Brien ; and Philip Selway. They have worked with the producer Nigel Godrich and the cover artist Stanley Donwood since 1994. Radiohead's experimental approach is credited with advancing the sound of alternative rock.
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Departing from their earlier sound, Radiohead incorporated influences from electronic music, krautrock, jazz and 20th-century classical music, with a wider range of instruments and effects. The singer, Thom Yorke, wrote impersonal and abstract lyrics, cutting up phrases and assembling them at random.
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Hail to the Thief is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released on 9 June 2003 through Parlophone internationally and a day later through Capitol Records in the United States. It was the last album released under Radiohead's record contract with EMI, the parent company of Parlophone and Capitol.
Thomas Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and other instruments, and is noted for his falsetto. Rolling Stone described Yorke as one of the greatest and most influential singers of his generation.
Nigel Timothy Godrich is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He has worked with acts including Radiohead, Travis, Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, U2, R.E.M., Pavement, Roger Waters, Arcade Fire and Idles.
The Eraser is the debut solo album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 10 July 2006 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, the longtime producer for Yorke's band Radiohead.
In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 10 October 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download, followed by a retail release internationally through XL Recordings on 3 December 2007 and in North America through TBD Records on 1 January 2008. It was Radiohead's first release after their recording contract with EMI ended with their album Hail to the Thief (2003).
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Atoms for Peace were an English-American rock supergroup comprising the Radiohead songwriter Thom Yorke, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, the Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, the drummer Joey Waronker of Beck and R.E.M., and the percussionist Mauro Refosco of Forro in the Dark.
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A Light for Attracting Attention is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Smile. It was released digitally through XL Recordings on 13 May 2022, with a retail release on 17 June.
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