But Radiohead lyrics have always had a way of slipping voice. (She died of cancer seven months after its release.) Lyrics address love as something inherently unsustainable: вЂњI feel this love to the core,вЂќ Yorke sings at the close of вЂњGlass Eyes,вЂќ before echoing it with, вЂњI feel this love turn cold.вЂќ On вЂњPresent Tense,вЂќ which seems otherwise to address a sort of mental armor against everyday anxiety, the chorus ruptures, вЂњIn you, IвЂ™m lostвЂќ - a pledge of fealty and a harbinger of rebellion in one. Much has been made about the impact of YorkeвЂ™s separation from Rachel Owen, his partner of 23 years and the mother of his children, during the albumвЂ™s production.

We try not to talk about the two-month period during which fans scoured shipping manifests for evidence of a never-to-arrive sequel to The King Of Limbs.Д¬ertainly, A Moon Shaped PoolвЂ™s sense of finality has other sources. For a while, in the early вЂ00s, the вЂњKid 17вЂќ experience demanded two versions of Kid A be played exactly 17 seconds apart, revealing a sort of galaxy-brain syncopation in the albumвЂ™s DNA. A vast numerological argument suggests that OK Computer and In Rainbows are actually companion albums, intended to be listened to interlaced. These threads get carried to strange conclusions. Lyrics appear like wormholes through time: references to 2016вЂ™s вЂњBurn The WitchвЂќ pop up in the liner notes to 2003вЂ™s Hail To The Thief. Almost every album in the discography sits atop a submerged pyramid of b-sides, alternate cuts, and live reconfigurations that suggest vastly different versions of the albums we ended up with. Supercharged off two decades of restless reinvention and statement-making, they are one of the most conspiracy-prone fandoms on the modern internet, which is saying something. YorkeвЂ™s lyrics pair memories of вЂњyour crazy kitten smileвЂќ with a chorus that pleads and soars in equal measure: вЂњJust / DonвЂ™t leave / DonвЂ™t leave.вЂќ An argument can be made that the songвЂ™s crystallization here is reason enough for the album to exist.Д«ut Radiohead fans rarely stop at a reasonable argument. After Radiohead attempted to record it for several previous LPs, itвЂ™s breathed into being amidst a swirl of fading, Caretaker-esque piano glissandos. The closer - the bandвЂ™s 100th album song - is вЂњTrue Love Waits,вЂќ a storied live favorite that dates back to 1995. TheyвЂ™re arranged in alphabetical order, as if to exhale, вЂњHere are the songs this band has made,вЂќ forgoing any other narrative cohesion. Seven of the 11 songs had been kicking around for years, sometimes for decades. Its individual songs sounded, immediately, like some of the best the band had ever committed to tape, but to what end? They convey exhaustion, the sort of transparency that comes when youвЂ™ve got nothing left to give, no secrets left in store. Courtesy of Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood / XLДЄnd yet thereвЂ™s something overwhelmingly final about the bandвЂ™s ninth album, released a half-decade ago next month.

Radiohead discography in order