Update: Radiohead rejoins the Web with dark videos, new music

A day after the group purged its website and its Twitter and Facebook pages of all content, Radiohead today has returned to the Web with a music-filled claymation teaser for its upcoming ninth studio album. Featuring what appears to be its first single, Burn The Witch, the four-minute video is one fans won’t want to miss.

Updated on 05-06-2016 by Parker Hall: Radiohead released another short new teaser for their upcoming record on Instagram.

A Wallace and Gromit-style video — or series of videos if you watch on the band’s Instagram page — showcases a group of mouthless village citizens who burn a visiting inspector inside a massive wooden effigy after giving him a tour of their town.

The short features numerous bloody and ritualistic scenes that take place in broad daylight, including a group of robe-and-antler-wearing villagers drawing swords and surrounding a woman, and an extremely floral hangman’s noose, among other creepy claymation images.

There seems to have been a dark humor behind the band’s choice of a clay medium, which has an oddly childish appearance. By using claymation, the band produced an on-screen environment in which horrific acts seem almost innocuous.

And that’s where the real focus of the short — the music — takes center stage. The first glimpse at what insiders say will be a totally new direction for the group, the song demonstrates a clear sonic leap for the five-piece rock band.

Showcasing live strings and analog synth bass below frontman Thom Yorke’s soaring vocals, Burn The Witch feels immediately like a fresh musical breath, even as it is accompanied by some traditional Radiohead hallmarks. A large ensemble work that is simultaneously intimate and epic, the new track offers a deep well of sounds which still manage to be easy to digest on the first listen.

Time will tell whether the group’s new album, which many believe will be called Dawnchoruss, is less experimental than 2011’s King of Limbs, but this first teaser seems to indicate a reinterpretation of the epic-style songwriting from the band’s 2007 release In Rainbows, with a little more big-production flair.

The band has yet to announce an official release date for the still (officially) untitled album. That said, they will perform their first live shows in four years this month in Europe to kick off a worldwide tour in support of the new material.

Article originally published on 05-03-2016.