Radiohead’s Thom Yorke appears to be gearing up to release new music, having kicked off a mysterious advertising campaign in cities around the world.
If you’ve ever listened to any of Thom Yorke’s music, you might know that he doesn’t like to do things the conventional way.
Ever since Radiohead broke new ground by offering up In Rainbows for free, their enigmatic frontman has toyed with different album release methods, including selling his Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes album through BitTorrent – a program usually used to pirate music.
However, just days after Radiohead revealed plans to donate the profits of 18 hours of leaked material to charity, the musician appears to be looking towards his next record, with fans noting a new advertising campaign in cities around the world.
Hey #London folks! We think we have spotted part of an ARG on the tube this morning (Jubilee line).
Anyone know anything more about this?#Anima#AnimaTechnologies pic.twitter.com/7GM4Eks5jY
— Kim Warren (@Fellwolf) June 13, 2019
As Pitchfork notes, advertisements on London trains, Italian phone booths, and even the *ahem* personals of The Dallas Observer have featured mysterious advertisements focusing on a company called “Anima Technologies”.
The advertisements query if the reader has “trouble remembering your dreams?”, before urging them to call a listed number in order to take advantage of their “dream camera” technology.
Calling the number alerts listeners that “Anima technologies has been ordered by the authorities to cease and desist from undertaking its advertised business,” before a portion of Thom Yorke’s new compositions, ‘Not The News’ plays out.
Fans are also invited to leave a message after the music, with some fans noting that this harkens back to Radiohead’s Airbag/How Am I Driving? compilation, which featured a number which fans could leave messages on.
Check out the voice message for ‘Anima Technologies’:
Likewise, Pitchfork also note that a website related to Anima Technologies has also been registered, with its landing page featuring a similar message to that of its phone line.
The only question that remains now is when Thom Yorke’s new album will indeed be released. Although some assumed that the “+1 (916) 619-6192” phone number for Americans might indicate a release date of June 19th (6/19), further UK and US telephone numbers appear to have debunked that theory.
In related news though, Thom Yorke recently explained to Stereogum that his new album touches on “dystopian feelings of anxiety”.
“The dystopian thing is one part of it, yes, but for me, one of the big, prevailing things was a sense of anxiety,” he explained. “If you suffer from anxiety it manifests itself in unpredictable ways, some people have over-emotional reactions.
“[For] some people the roots of reality can just get pulled out, you don’t know what’s happening. Then eventually, reality comes back.”
Check out ‘Suspirium’ by Thom Yorke:
