ATOMS FOR PEACE

Oval Space, London | February 22nd 

20 years to the day Radiohead released Pablo Honey, what better way to commemorate the landmark than with evening in the company of Thom Yorke’s Atoms For Peace. The band’s heavyweight line-up assembled for shows in London, Berlin and New York to mark the release of debut album AMOK. 

Support came from Werkdisks/Honest Jon’s producer Actress. With his third and finest album R.I.P. in the bag, he took full advantage of this high-profile slot with an engrossingly beaty showing. A short break and Nigel Godrich was first to appear, wringing tones from his laptop for Thom Yorke to follow. Three projectors provided audiovisual composer Tarik Barri’s creations, forming constellations and darting triangles. Atoms opened with Ingernu, and the instant those unmistakably haunting vocals kicked in we felt part of something special.

A shoegaze instrumental led into Black Swan from Yorke’s solo album The Eraser. While AMOK has been criticised for its similarity to that record, here the material fleshed the set out perfectly, while Dropped’s fierce electronic riff brought the dancefloor bubbling to a head. The opening notes of The Eraser’s title track saw the crowd – many of whom seemed too preoccupied with arms-crossed focusing to actually enjoy themselves – lighten up a little. The warehouse-ish Oval, along with the support, was surely selected to create the aura of a club experience rather than a gig, yet this seemed lost on many, despite the 12:30-2 a.m timeslot. With album opener Before Your Very Eyes…, Reverse Running and S.A.D. (B side to Judge Jury and Executioner, surprisingly the one track from AMOK not performed) retaining impressive momentum, AFP finished with a stunning encore of Default.

Yorke’s closing statement to the crowd was “Thanks everyone, we don’t know what the fuck’s going on, but we hope you do”. For man who doesn’t know what’s going on, Thom Yorke’s staggering track record for defining the forefront of contemporary music with each step looks pretty safe to us.

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Words + Photo: Ali Nation + Rory McKenna