Listen to Jonny Greenwood Break Down Radiohead A Moon Shaped Pool Tracks

Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood has dissected A Moon Shaped Pool tracks in a new interview with NPR’s Bob Boilen. During the 25-minute segment, they nerd out about the record’s creation, discussing the tools, methods, and influences behind the LP, with a focus on “Burn the Witch,” “Daydreaming,” and “Glass Eyes.” Check it out below.

Discussing the band’s relationship with Thom Yorke during recording, Greenwood says:

It’s not really about can I do my guitar part now, it’s more … how do we not mess up this really good song? Part of the problem is Thom will sit at the piano and play a song like ‘Pyramid Song’ and we’re going to record it and how do we not make it worse, how do we make it better than him just playing it by himself, which is already usually quite great. We’re arrangers, really.

Then, he discusses “Burn the Witch”:

This song was one of the rare chances of getting our hands on an unfinished song, so we could put strings on right at the beginning. Usually strings are an afterthought, decoration on the end of a song. I’ve been saying for years, wouldn’t it be great to start with strings. So this song was just Thom singing in a drum machine and nothing else. And then I wrote strings to that. So you’re hearing an orchestra play—they’re strumming their violins with guitar plectrums, that’s the rhythm.

He adds, “Everytime I see someone in their 20s carrying a cello case or a violin case, I’m always a bit in awe. I think they look very cool, compared to long-haired idiots like me carrying guitars. I know who I admire more.”

As they play “Daydreaming,” Boilen asks whether Yorke records vocals with the band present. Greenwood says, “‘Daydreaming’ was a strange example, because we did the backing track, and Thom came in and sang on it. We couldn’t find a way in, so we did a version without him.” He added that “Glass Eyes,” which is “just strings and Thom,” was recorded on software Greenwood created using MaxMSP.

Finally, Greenwood discusses the band’s preference for spending time in the studio working with songs. “But then the next record,” he adds, “we’ll be really frustrated with that and we’ll hopefully change direction. It’s the process of saying, ‘Yeah, it’s not quite right, let’s go in this direction instead.’ So yeah, I’m trying to get into heavy metal at the moment, because I’m feeling like I missed out. I saw Deep Purple a couple of weeks ago, in Italy, and it was great. And it’s all new music to me, I don’t know any of that stuff.”

Read our feature, “Internet Explorers: The Curious Case of Radiohead’s Online Fandom.”

Read our interview with Greenwood and Shye Ben Tzur about the Junun project.

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