Editorial Fall 2020
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“Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” was released as part of Radiohead’s 2007 Album In Rainbows, an album that garnered much critical acclaim even when compared to the rest of the group’s well-received discography. In 2020, Lianne La Havas released her third studio LP, Lianne La Havas, which included “Weird Fishes,” a cover of Radiohead’s song. The parallels between these two tracks perfectly represent the ways in which vocal delivery, instrumentals, and tempo can entirely change the themes and understanding of lyrics. While both La Havas’s and Radiohead’s versions concern love and longing, they act as emotional foils to one another. While the lyrics remain the same, Radiohead’s original song reflects the longing before a great love can be fully achieved, while La Havas’s is more a reflection on love lost and the introspection stemming from it. As a result, the songs read entirely differently, but still skip the idyllic parts of a relationship, instead aiming for the deeply pained and vulnerable periods before and after. Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” opens with fast-paced synth drums and keyboard notes, setting a nearly urgent tone to the song’s introduction. These synths crescendo up through the first half of the song, reflecting the questioning-yet-hopeful lyrics in the first portion of the track. Thom Yorke’s unique voice cuts through the instrumental curtain shortly after the track begins, sounding pained and falling off at the end of each line. His voice picks up again in every
subsequent line with increased intensity, which matches the ascending arpeggios on guitar. The themes of longing and confusion present themselves over the course of the first verse, matched by the increasingly frenzied instrumental that masterfully avoids getting in the way of vocals. By the end of the verse, Yorke’s vocal quality is strained and almost shrill, reflecting the pining nature of his suffering. The tempo of the instrumental follows his lead at remarkable speed, where all its components cascade into a wave of sound behind him. However, as soon as Yorke proclaims, “I get eaten by the worms,” all the background sound is reduced to soft, chime-like synth notes. The instrumentals return at full force after
this bridge, with the chimes cutting out in favor of a high-tempo drum line and a similar set of instrumental techniques as before. However, Yorke’s voice changes significantly, becoming lower, richer, and more mournful than at any other point of the track. The theme of longing also returns, but with the caveat of understanding that there
