Song · A Moon Shaped Pool era (2015–21)
Glass Eyes
The shortest song on the album, a phone call from a station, with the piano bent out of shape by Jonny Greenwood's software.
A Moon Shaped Poolalbum- 2016released
- 2:52length
2014–16
a piano through max
It is the shortest thing on A Moon Shaped Pool, listed at 2:52 on the release. Jonny Greenwood ran the piano through Max, the music programming language, and bent it there. He talked about the song with Bob Boilen on NPR's All Songs +1 in August 2016, in the same conversation where he called string sessions the days he lives for: an orchestra booked for four hours and the parts waiting on empty stands in the morning.
The strings are the London Contemporary Orchestra, conducted by Hugh Brunt, from Greenwood's arrangement, recorded at RAK in London. A month after the release Brunt was asked for his favourite moment on the record, and he picked this one, crediting the engineering of Nigel Godrich and Sam Petts-Davies.
an amazing fluid, fully dimensional quality in the sound
hugh brunt · howl & echoes, 3 june 2016
the words
off the train
It starts mid-conversation, as if you have picked up the phone. The singer has just got off a train somewhere frightening, where every face is concrete grey, and he is wondering whether to turn round and buy another ticket while the panic builds. Then a path runs off down a mountain through dry scrub, and he no longer minds where it goes. The last lines feel a love going cold.
The novelist Adam Thorpe spent time with the band at La Fabrique for the Times Literary Supplement, and his piece and the NPR interview are where the description of the words as an “unguarded phone call” comes from. Nina Corcoran in Consequence heard an alienated man who is afraid of civilisation.
2016–17
three nights
It was the last song from the album to be played live. That happened at the Roundhouse in London on 27 May 2016, the second of three nights there, the same evening “Kid A” made its first appearance of the tour. Thomas Hannan was in the room for The Line of Best Fit:
a sumptuous melancholy delight
thomas hannan · the line of best fit, 30 may 2016
They played it again in the Roman theatre at Fourvière in Lyon on 1 June, both times tenth in the set, straight after “No Surprises”. Then it went away for 312 days and came back once, in the encore at the Moda Center in Portland on 9 April 2017. Three nights in all, and none since.
on stage
Live at The Moda Center 4-9-17.· suprefanwatch on youtube →
takes(3)
Live history
| Times played | 3 shows |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Friday 27 May 2016 · London |
| Last played | Sunday 9 April 2017 · Portland |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
sources9
- Bob Boilen, “All Songs +1: A Conversation With Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood”, NPR, 4 August 2016, for the string days.
- “Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood dissects ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ on NPR”, DIY, August 2016, for the songs he discussed.
- Lauren Ziegler, “In Conversation With The London Contemporary Orchestra”, Howl & Echoes, 3 June 2016, for Hugh Brunt on the strings.
- Larry Bartleet, “Watch Radiohead debut ‘Glass Eyes’ live in London”, NME, 28 May 2016, for the live debut.
- Thomas Hannan, “Stop whispering: Radiohead live in London”, The Line of Best Fit, 30 May 2016, for the Roundhouse.
- Nina Corcoran, review of A Moon Shaped Pool, Consequence, 11 May 2016, for the lyric.
- A Moon Shaped Pool album credits (XL Recordings, 2016), for the running time, the orchestra and the engineers.
- Wikipedia, “A Moon Shaped Pool”, for the use of Max (citing NPR), the “unguarded phone call” phrase (citing NPR and Adam Thorpe in the TLS, 18 May 2016) and the RAK string sessions.
- “Radiohead shed light on recording of A Moon Shaped Pool”, Crack, 19 May 2016, for Thorpe's visit to La Fabrique.