Much has (understandably) been made of Radiohead's latest marketing campaign - so much so, that their decision to release their new album on a 'pay what you want' basis has won them more column space than the actual album analysis itself has. Despite that fact, the Oxford natives' long-awaited follow-up to 2003's Hail to the Thief does live up to the weighty hype that initially threatened to suffocate it. Radiohead have long been admired for taking risks in their career (albums as experimental and audacious as Kid A and Amnesiac have testified to that) but with In Rainbows, they've not so much abandoned their exploratory ethos, than settled into an uncomfortable niche. From excellent opener 15 Step's quirky time signature and electro thud, to All I Need's bleak bass drone, In Rainbows is smothered in the delightful idiosyncrasies and peculiarities that we've come to expect of a Radiohead release. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi is brimming with superb chord changes, warm, almost harp-like guitars and a neatly-clipped drumbeat; House of Cards' almost reggae-like intro twirls loose over shuddering thumps, while Faust Arp and Reckoner are both augmented by lush string sections. Yorke's voice, too, is better than ever, simultaneously soaring and subtly emoting. In Rainbows won't have the same revolutionary effect that some of their previous body of work did - but as Radiohead albums go, it's still pretty damned good.

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