Such is Thom Yorke's standing in the music world any release which has his name on it is going to be seen as something of a special occasion and this has certainly been the case with Amok, the first full length release from Yorke's Atoms For Peace side-project. Inevitable comparisons with his more well-known day job will be difficult to ignore (there are occasional glimpses of latter-day Radiohead in here), but it's Yorke's 2006 solo record The Eraser which is the real companion piece to this.
Musos the world over were practically salivating onto their copies of Mojo when it was announced that Yorke was to release an album with famed producer Nigel Godrich, as well as Flea (yep, him), Joey Waronker and Mauro Refosco but could the project possibly live up to the expectations which would inevitably rise due to so many musical luminaries being associated with it?
Amok is a very solid album, which hits notable highs ('Dropped' is particularly great, while 'Default' is one of the best songs of the year so far) but veers close to stagnation at points - which is disappointing, given that the collection comes in at a mere nine songs. Yorke's musical signatures are prevalent throughout - and his voice is as wonderful as always - but you can't quite shake the feeling that, while this looks great on paper, it's a little undercooked in reality.
