Thom Yorke will be the musical guest on the Wednesday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The Radiohead frontman appears set to premiere a brand new song.
Yorke tweeted an image of lyrics for a new song called ‘Plasticine Figures’. Fallon replied with his trademark enthusiasm. “I mean… I can’t thank you enough. A BRAND NEW UNHEARD SONG FROM THOM YORKE?!?!” The show airs at approximately 1.30pm AEST (April 30), and one assumes Yorke will be filming himself playing at home.
Yorke was due to take his 2019 solo record, Anima, on the road around the US in March and April. However, all dates were postponed due to the coronavirus. In mid-April Yorke somewhat ambitiously announced the dates would now be occurring in October.
Watch: Thom Yorke – Last I Heard (…He Was Circling The Drain)
In the meantime, it looks like Yorke’s been busily scratching away at new material. “Most malleable plasticine figures,” begin the lyrics to Yorke’s new song. “Mould to suit your taste.” The photo even includes the chord changes, so we can count on some YouTube covers surfacing before the performance goes live.
Yorke appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in October 2019. He’s not a conventional interviewee – he’s never relished that part of the job – but there was a mutual respect between himself and Colbert.
Watch: Thom Yorke on Colbert
“For decades, you’ve been writing music that is uneasy and anxious in regards to society, our government, technology, the general direction of the world… how does it feel to be right?” Colbert joked during the interview. He also asked Yorke about one of his favourite bands, R.E.M. Specifically, he probed for Yorke’s favourite song by the band.
‘So. Central Rain’ was his choice. R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe appeared on the show a few months later, nominating ‘Pyramid Song’ as his favourite Radiohead song and ‘Traffic’ as his favourite from Yorke’s solo catalogue.
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