It’s Radiohead week over here at IB HQ.

If you weren’t aware, our pal Will Powers recently penned an excellent essay on their album The King of Limbs, in which he argues that it’s the group’s most underrated release, their ugly duckling record. We’re inclined to agree; it ain’t no OK Computer, but it deserves its own place in the pantheon of exceptional records about digital age paranoia.

Anyways, we thought this might be a convenient time to bring up someone we’ve been wanting to talk about on the site for a while. He’s Radiohead’s most underappreciated facet, their secret weapon, their “fifth Beatle”: Stanley Donwood.

*Cnut,* 2006. This became the artwork for Thom Yorke’s solo album *The Eraser*.

““The idea of a record shop as a democratic, non-hierarchical art gallery where the art itself has no intrinsic value because it’s just a printed piece of cardboard - it’s something I REALLY, REALLY LIKE.””

— Stanley Donwood

Yorke and Donwood’s professional relationship began when Yorke commissioned him to design the cover art for the My Iron Lung E.P. in 1994. Since then, he’s created the artwork for every single one of their releases, including Yorke’s solo work and this year’s The Smile record (which is a serious AOTY contender, if you ask us). His uncanny, dystopian landscapes and glitchy imagery have duly become as big a part of Radiohead’s identity as the band’s music itself.

*A Light for Attracting Attention,* 2022.

Part of the beauty of Donwood’s work is that his approach almost always varies - an ideology well in line with the Radiohead ethos. For instance, the artwork for Kid A is a digital/paint hybrid that draws inspiration from Yugoslavian warscapes; OK Computer’s cover was done digitally in photoshop, the only rule being that hitting “undo” was strictly prohibited at all times; For A Moon Shaped Pool, Donwood allegedly built a paint-shooting robot and pointed it at a canvas, and left that canvas in the rain overnight. No medium - or method - is out of the question.

Unsurprisingly, looking at one of Donwood’s pieces is a pretty similar experience to listening to Radiohead’s music. We’ve all experienced Radiohead Syndrome, which commonly manifests itself as the following line of internal dialogue:

I have no idea how I’m supposed to interpret this, but since I’m enjoying it, I’ll just go along with it.

Luckily for us, Donwood’s art is less about specific themes and more about general emotions - just like a great Thom Yorke tune. The ability to convey feelings of paranoia, anxiety, and uneasiness comes naturally to both artists; it’s no wonder the pairing works so well. —Jackson Todd