I have now lived with A Moon Shaped Pool (AMSP) for two years, and the more I fall in love with this album the more mystical it has become to me. In every subsequent listen I feel more of its meaning is revealed, and yet it always felt like it was incomplete somehow. There are so many references to past Radiohead themes, to past lyrics and past loves, and it has always felt like an album that was flirting with being a farewell album. I couldn’t resist the thought that there was a key I had yet to uncover that would unlock the story put forth in this album, a story greater than the sum of its parts.

It was the search for this key that lead me to create this playlist/narrative that I now call “A Moon Shaped Loop”. Many have noticed that AMSP is very personal to Thom, and I think we can extract more meaning from this album by playing it along side the albums and lessons of his past.

In order to create this playlist I followed some specific rules (that I created from scratch with no basis in reality) and while I think there is little chance the band intended for these songs to be heard in this way, I do think there is meaning in viewing AMSP through a past lens and insight to be garnered in analyzing the result.

Here are the rules I followed in making this playlist:

Create a playlist from A Moon Shaped Pool in which every song from AMSP was preceded by a counterpart from a previous album, in chronological order. So Bends(Track 1), AMSP (Track 1), OKComputer(2) AMSP(2), HTTT (3) AMSP(3), etc. If this is an album/playlist about past/present Thom, than we need to start on The Bends, since Thom hates Pablo Honey. We should not include Untitled from Kid A, since the titles seem to matter in AMSP and indeed in this playlist. Once we get to The King of Limbs(TKOL), we should revert and go backwards. This just made sense to me, as opposed to hitting TKOL and going back to The Bends for a track, we should instead treat this grand playlist like an endless loop that chronologically ended where it began.

Some observations about this playlist.

Following these rules the playlist is exactly 23 songs. For any hardcore nerds, you may recognize this as both the number of years the band had been recording when AMSP came out, the number of years that Thom was married to his ex-wife and the number of doors Thom walks through in the Daydreaming video (watch this gem for more on the video). In a band that has celebrated numerology in so many ways, this felt like a good thing.

These songs seem to have a call and response effect, in which the man asking to burn the witch is also reminded that paranoia is in itself a cause for panic attacks and concern. In which a dreamer is answered by a realist. In which a musician is questioned by a fan. In which a new identity leads a new lover.

Note to readers: This tennis match of sorts, between the Past and Present is best ingested while listening to the playlist and certainly with a healthy dosage of a rare bourbon, or your favorite tea, or your preferred legal cotton. And a big shout out to the people at r/radiohead for creating a home for such silly ideas as these :)

Planet Telex (The Bends, Track 01)

The beginning of this dialogue between past and present is the template for the conversation. Just as the finale of this playlist is a circle that brings us back to the beginning, here we are reminded that you can’t force art and that everything Thom has written for the last 23 years holds a lot of meaning an required a lot of sacrifice. Everyone is broken so if there is any beauty in this world it is because people like Thom and bands like Radiohead embrace their broken parts. It seems this is a lesson Thom wrestles with throughout his career and throughout this album. In fact we will watch as Thom tries to crust it, to walk way, to run away and to kiss it (I wanna be your lover) and indeed breaks all the rules, but he still finds himself learning the same lesson.

Burn the Witch (AMSP, Track 01)

This song has existed for years and thus is actually of the past; however it’s time for it to shine here. This in and of itself was a clue that the past was important in this album, since sonically this song sounds so much like HTTT or Bends era Radiohead, and to begin this new album with it felt almost like a shuffing off of some past ghosts by Thom and the band.

Seen through our past/present lens, present Thom is responding to his youthful self here. While past Thom was able to recognize that everyone is indeed broken, he has since learned some people make it a point to break the social contract and indeed are worse than “everyone”. Thom sees the social contract of agreed upon truth being broken by these people who abandon all reason and defend their half truths by saying things like don’t shoot the messengers, when in fact these messengers are often to blame for this systemic brokenness. Not only are these the people using terms like “witch hunts”, but these are the people that indeed need to “burn” as the witches they are. We are caught in their own metaphor, for to burn the witch is to indeed validate their fears that you dislike them simply because they are different, but to remain indifferent is to be complicit in the lies.

Paranoid Android (OK Computer, Track 02)

Now that Thom is willing to name the evil messengers, the past reminds us that paranoia is also a problem. Panic Attacks are not things of the past for someone who lives with them. Many have noticed that Paranoid Android is an idealistic and naive resistance to fame that would in fact be brought about by Paranoid Android. Thom indeed gets the chance to be king after this song is released, and yet when he is king he must have felt paralyzed by that power. This song clearly has an evil antagonist, who will put you against the wall, chop off your head and feast on your crackling skin. But does Thom realize that he is setting himself up to be this antagonist with this song? In the future will Thom be able to learn from this lesson?

Daydreaming (AMSP, Track 02)

Many have said that this song is the largest departure for the band on this album. It sounds like an evolution. The same was also said for Paranoid Android. But in daydreaming there is even more to pay attention to. The song starts with a self-reproach by Thom. Dreamers, they never learn. It certainly seems like this band and Thom have learned something. But perhaps what Thom is realizing is that enemy of his Paranoid Android is the idealist, the dreamer and the person who sacrifices genuine connection for admiration from a silent audience.

The video for this song deserves some attention as well, since there are clear set pieces from previous albums, and scenes from Thom’s past. Clearly this song is a transition from his past to his present. In the video Thom walks through 23 doors, many of which appear to be from video sets from the bands past, others from moments in his life. In order to make this album Thom needed to walk through all 23 doors from his past, all 23 years of being a band — all 23 years of being a husband.

Towards the end of this song we hear Thom’s distorted vocals saying “Half of my life. Half of my love.” in reverse. And indeed if his wife was half of his love and half of his life, than this band and this music must certainly be the other half. I believe this is what Thom is searching for in A Moon Shaped Pool and indeed what the past has to offer him in return.

But oddly enough upon subsequent listens I’ve at times thought the reverse vocals were saying “National Anthem”…

The National Anthem (Kid A, Track 03)

Past Thom was worried about fame. He was worried that his life was being turned upside down. Everyone was broken to start, but now Everyone is so near. All he can do is hold on. People have speculated on to what he’s holding on but I think present Thom has an answer for us in the next song.

Decks Dark (AMSP, Track 03)

Decks Dark might suggest that the thing Thom is holding on to is the band. The band that always seems to be jetting further and further into space. That same spacecraft blocking out the sky that destroyed the other half of his life. Can you hold on to the spaceship and still stay grounded? I think Thom like many artists who find fame, is baffled by the square footage that his art has taken in his life, especially when being in a band was just a laugh. It was supposed to be some friends having a laugh in school. But then again, anything we don’t take seriously has the potential to crush us. Either way if this is the loudest sound you’ve ever heard, right before you’ve had enough of me, then surely one of us needs to get off this spaceship… or is it too late?

You and Whose Army (Amnesiac, Track 04)

In the past I’ve always heard this song as a threat to the establishment but in this context it seems like it may have more to do with his relationship and his art. If this is a song to himself, as he states it originally was meant, than surely he can get off this spaceship — quit this band. Who is going to stop him? You and whose army? But if he does, is he then just another person we have trusted who betrayed our trust? In the end he can’t do it, his threat is just such ghost horses… come on, this spaceship has much more distance to go.

Desert Island Disk (AMSP, Track 04)

The 8th song in this playlist. This is a reference to the BBC Radio 4 program Desert Island Discs, where celebrities must name eight recordings (usually songs) that they would take away with them on a desert island. However, this playlist is also made up of 8 disks, in this case the complete discography of Radiohead, as Thom sees it (considering his hate of Pablo Honey).

But what about the themes? Well if this album is a call and response to his past self, than he is ready to take the bait of You and Whose Army?, which is to walk away. Now as he goes upon his way through an open doorway (perhaps one of the 23 doors from the Daydreaming video? One of the 23 songs in this playlist?) he is choosing to go to another life — perhaps a life without such taunts and threats, a life outside this spaceship.

It is perhaps this idea to abandon the spaceship, to get off the ride that unlocks the greatest epiphany for Thom. The act of actually contemplating going on his way, causes a rebirth, a waking up from shutdown, and he realizes “what if you don’t need to walk away at all”. You know what I mean, he things while standing on the edge, mere moments from making the leap. What if this band and this music is the reason to stay around? After all Different types of love are possible. So maybe this music and this life contains a different type of love?

Go To Sleep (Hail To the Thief, Track 05)

Of course embracing a new reality is hard, it’s a lot easier to just go to sleep and Thom of the past considers going back to sleep. He might want to go back to those ghost horses, those pretty horses come to you as you sleep. Also past Thom was obsessed with the impending wars, with the lies and if things have changed than hopefully we don’t need to address this in the future. But of course there is no Ful Stop to wars, there is no relief from this desire to go back to sleep, there is no relief from the mistakes of our past, and there is certainly no way in hell that us humans every really learn from our past. So if that’s the case is Thom really prepared to embrace this new life, or is there more to learn from his past?

Ful Stop (AMSP, Track 05)

What of those mistakes? Those collective mistakes we’ve made? Those singular fuck ups. You really messed up everything. What if you could light a fire with those mistakes? That would sort of be like if you could take it all back again. But here present Thom challenges us — why should Thom be good if we aren’t? After all we are still electing sociopaths, we are still starting wars for profit, we are still stuck in this messed up sentence — we are still trapped in our full stop (period). Which means we are unable to move on. We are stuck here. It’s possible Thom is stuck in his own full stop. Just when he was ready to embrace this new type of love, to wake up, he went to sleep and remembered the world is larger than him, and it hasn’t moved on. This is depressing. The truth will mess you up.

Faust Arp (In Rainbows, Track 06)

The truth does mess you up this song is a stark reminder that Thom has asked these questions before. The track’s title, “Faust Arp,” combines the name Faust (sometimes spelled Faustus) — a man who sold his soul to the devil for happiness and almost unlimited power — and Jean/Hans Arp, a French sculptor. “Remember Thom you sold your soul for this art, for this spaceship” his past might be saying. So wakey wakey, rise and shine you stubborn dolt. It’s probably time to call it a good run and set this spaceship down. Let’s squeeze the tubes and empty bottles, and take a bow after all you are just copying yourself at this point Jean Arp, at this point your art is just plastic bags and duplicate and triplicate.

Glass Eyes (AMSP, Track 06)

So here we sit, dead center of the album, dead center of this playlist, at a point of decision making. Does Thom stay or walk away? Does he continue to bleed himself for the next ounce of originality or is his art such squeezed tubes and empty bottles?

I think it’s fitting that this song begins in a train station, those places that embody the man with a thousand choices to make. His past has reminded him of the cost of making these sort of choices, but the present tense is begging him to either sit down or stand up. Here Thom’s wondering if he should just turn around and get back on the train, save the choice for later.

Sonically I’ve always thought this song actually sounds like waking up from a dream. You can just imagine the cut scene from a movie where a blurry vignette begins with these lilting piano arpeggios. Imagine waking up on a train to this and stepping out into the frightening place that is filled with the faces of strangers. Did he just get off the train and realize he traded intimacy for the chance to stair at unfamiliar faces? Or is he currently living in the glassy eyed light of day now? Was his past self his best self? Now when he looks back where the path trails off he doesn’t know where it leads. But then again, amidst this doubt and this unfamiliar stop, he does feel something true. He feels this love to the core. This new love, the love of a different type.

Give Up the Ghost (King of Limbs, Track 07)

In the past Thom knew of a way to cope with these uncomfortable moments of transition. Give up the Ghost has always been called a mantra, and I think for anyone familiar with PTSD or Anxiety, this sounds more like positive affirmations. The repetition of Don’t Hurt Me, Don’t Haunt Me may sound like the pleading of weaker than self, but to me it sounds like strength. It sounds like the words I would mutter to myself inside of a crowded train station, in a cramped space, where I’m tempted to feel like a bug crushed in the ground. No, if we give up those past ghosts, then we give ourself a chance to build atop a whole new version of ourself. This is a chance to gather up the lost, the pitiful in your arms and assure them that they won’t be haunted, they won’t be hurt. And if these lost ghosts are versions of yourself, then this is actually what many practices of therapy believe is the healthy path forward. Gather up those injured parties, and give them a hug, give them a safe place and they will stop haunting you. Even if it seems impossible you too can give up the ghost. This may seem like a simple way to deal with the truth. But then again, it has worked for Thom. Here Thom can walk into that new place with these tools from his past, these comforting words in his ears, and embrace a new life, a new identity.

Identikit (AMSP, Track 07)

Thom has said he has no idea what this song is about. If we explore the possibility that this album was an unconscious letter to his past self, than this song is imbued with a sort of meaning. His past self was messing him around, some have said this song is about cheating, and breaking harts through infidelity. However the proper English way to say that would be ‘messing around on me’, not messing me around. Instead what if Thom is chastising his past self for messing with his head. Indeed just a few songs earlier he reminded us that The truth will mess you up. Perhaps this past/present conversation, this search for truth, isn’t helping things. Maybe he can piece himself back together as one person and create a new identikit. One who doesn’t want to know, who is fine leaving the past be the past.

I think if Glass Eyes was the pinnacle of this tension then we are clearly on a path away from that tension. If Thom is able to create a new identity than he is in a place to have a lot of fun. He might break some hearts, he might cavort with the sweet-faced ones with nothing left inside… whatever he has planned, I think he plans on having some fun. It may not be the most enlightened path he is following, but that train he just got off had a fixed destination, and at least now the destination is an exciting mystery.

House of Cards (In Rainbows, Track 08)

This is such a perfect song to follow Identikit. Clearly this new identity is going to be fun. Lets forget about our troubling pasts, our house of cards and let’s get swept under. In this context of Thom wrestling with his past this song reminds him about how fun falling in love can be. And if you want to join him on this new path, to discover this new type of love, then let’s forget about our husbands, and leave your keys in the bowl. If it helps you can just deny it ever happened. Denial, denial. This is after all the first stage of grief. But to me it sounds like a great way to silence the concerns of your future self.

The Numbers (AMSP, Track 08)

If present Thom is going to listen to past Thom than he has something to add to that young mans wish for a senseless orgy. He now realizes he needs numbers to move forward, he can’t do this by himself. If this new world of his is his domain, then he sits atop a democracy where his fans and his bandmates all have a say as well. It’s going to take other people, the people have the power to help Thom embrace this new love, and they also have the power to reject him and send him on his way. Either way the future is inside us. And so he needs to call upon the people to help make things right. He wants to embrace this new reality, but without being stuck in this full stop. He wants to cure global warming with this new life. He wants to break free from this spell because we’re not at the mercy of your shimmerers and spells. Hopefully his fans can help, the people who can change things, but this time he won’t be glassy eyed. This time he’ll hope for change one day at a time.

There, There (Hail To the Thief, Track 09)

Just cause you feel it, doesn’t mean it’s there. It’s amazing to me how much wisdom is in these past tracks. In this case I think past Thom is warning of a fleeting attraction. We know Thom is about to embark on what sounds like a fun new journey with his fans and his new shiny spaceship. But there is always a siren singing you to shipwreck and if you just replace your old love with this new love, make sure it isn’t just attraction to a new idea that has you ready to throw your key into the bowl. Steer away from these rocks and calm down, take a breather, there, there, now isn’t that better?

Present Tense (AMSP, Track 09)

Back in the present, Thom is taking his past self’s advice. But before he let’s down his guard he needs to protect himself from that realization that this new love requires input from others, that’s its not his own love. This dance is an act of self defense, against this realization, against the present tense. Older, wiser Thom knows that in order for this dance to be therapeutic, he needs to keep it light, or else he runs the risk of regressing back to his old self who might avoid the present by lashing out or starting a war.

I also think this song is a way for Thom to reach back out to the audience and let them know he needs them in this new love. Half of his life he has been dancing with these others, who he chose over suburbia, over marriage, over being grounded. And he wants to know we can still groove with him.

Like Spinning Plates (Amnesiac, Track 10)

We begin to descend now. Past Thom is starting to resent future Thom’s assuredness and “lightness” he can see how future Thom is leaving him behind. While you make pretty speeches, I’m being cut to shreds. You feed me to the lions. And indeed if we move forward through time by blaming our past mistakes on our past approaches are we indeed feeding a part of ourselves to the lions? In order to truly progress shouldn’t we aim to take our past versions of ourselves along? Shouldn’t we take our old loves with us as well? Otherwise these new moments of enlightenment are just spinning plates… circus tricks to keep our audience interested, with little actual risk.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Poor Man Beggar Man Thief (AMSP, Track 10)

Other than Daydreaming, this song seems to nod to the past/present narrative the most. Thom can’t seem to get a hold of which Thom he is. This children’s nursery rhyme is supposed to tell you who is “it”… but if Thom has learned anything over these last 23 years, it’s that he doesn’t know which “it” he is.

Is he the captain of the spaceship or the man on the ground, the lover? Is he inevitably broken like everyone, or is he messing himself around? Is he a bird or a fish? He needs to know who to go forward with and his last desperate attempt to know is the refrain at the end of this song. He first calls out to summon the real Thom, the one who will bring him this new type of love. I am here, come to me, before it’s too late. The one you light your fires to keep away is crawling out upon its belly and all you have to do is say yes. Scary thought, that the one you were trying to avoid, is inevitably the only version of yourself that you can possibly be. For in avoiding anything, you are giving it power, and indeed power to overtake you. Can anyone save you from yourself?

Lucky (OK Computer, Track 11)

Here again the themes come crashing together. Somehow like an oracle of the past, Thom is reminding us again that there is so much to be optimistic about. I’m on a roll, I’m on a roll this time. Somehow this time is going to be different. Here Thom isn’t relying on his ability to make the right choice, but instead he’s hopeful that luck will have a role to play. It’s gonna be a glorious day so don’t worry about which Tinker Tailor “it” you are, and be the superhero we all want you to be. And as Thom sings Cause I’m your superhero… standing on the edge he defiantly reclaims the edge he was standing on in Desert Island Disk, this time the edge is not the end of his career but the beginning of his flight.

True Love Waits (AMSP, Track 11)

So much of this narrative is about the past waiting to be welcomed by Thom. It’s possible he is just now realizing how much these two separate loves have meant to him. He is just now able to release these demons from his past, just like the songs from his past; this song, Silent Spring, Burn the Witch. In some way like his unknown self these songs haunted him… in haunted attics. But he knows around the corner, in his daydreams, there is a new type of love. At first he thought he needed to walk away from this spaceship in order to realize it. Then he thought maybe he just needed to be in the present to realize it. But in reality he doesn’t know yet what he needs to do, but he’s willing to do a lot. In the end it’s a waiting game. He will continue to drown his beliefs to make this music for you, he asks only one thing from you — please don’t leave.

Street Spirit (Fade Out), (The Bends, Track 12)

Again we end at The Bends. The bends is when you come up for air too quick. I’d like to think that as Thom wrote AMSP, occasionally this song would pop into his head, reminding him to slow down and not come up for air too fast. Street Spirit is the distilling of Thoms best version of his past self, and perhaps the version he needs to embrace before he goes under. This Thom felt the pressure of the modern life, rows of houses…bearing down on me, and yet he had so much hope. He knew we needed to join hands to be a world child, form a circle — some speculate this was a reference to “hope” circles where people grab hands and stand together for one specific cause. In this case I think Thom wants to remind himself and us, that love is a good enough cause to stand for, and indeed that there are different types of love. So as his farewell to us and himself he reminds us to immerse your soul in love. Take solace in the fact that like all lives, all albums must fade out, and even though some loves may fade, if you immerse yourself in love, you will find it never fades, but instead it simply forms a circle, one where the end is just the beginning.