Radiohead give away “These Are My Twisted Words”

Radiohead have put “These Are My Twisted Words” up as a free download on W.A.S.T.E., the band's online shop, today, Monday 17 August, five days after it leaked online under their name. The MP3 comes with artwork, and there is a torrent link beside the direct download.

A text file bundled with the leak had led fans to expect an EP called Wall of Ice on the same day. The address wallofice.com, Drowned In Sound reports, leads to the W.A.S.T.E. store, where one song of five and a half minutes is all there is.

Jonny Greenwood announced it in a few lines on Dead Air Space, the band's blog. We've been recording for a while, and this was one of the first we finished. We're pretty proud of it.¹⁷ A song handed out on its own fits what Thom Yorke told The Believer earlier this month, that nobody in the band wants to start another full album straight away.

The zip file holds artwork of twisted trees and a credit sheet. Nigel Godrich recorded it and put it together, and the tracing-paper images are by Donwood and Tchock.

The Quietus rates it darker than In Rainbows, nearer Kid A and Amnesiac. Matthew Schnipper of The Fader likes how plain and direct it is, and picks out Phil Selway's snare and light cymbals.

The band's summer concerts are five festival nights, from Frequency at St. Pölten in Austria this Friday to Reading on 30 August. There's other stuff in various states of completion, but this is one we've been practising, and which we'll probably play at this summer's concerts.¹⁷