The constant that binds Thom Yorke’s work in a variety of rock and electronic contexts is his voice. Whether you like it or not, whether you find it agonized or whiny, it is characteristic. And so, no matter who the Radiohead singer collaborates with, it almost automatically becomes a Thom Yorke album. This is also true of Tall Tales, his collaboration with Mark Pritchard. Under pseudonyms such as Africa Hitech, Troubleman, Harmonic 313, Jedi Knights and Global Communication, he has demonstrated a broad understanding of electronic music – from techno and house to ambient and dub.
Pritchard, who has also remixed Radiohead, makes the most of his versatility on Tall Tales. It is ambient pop that earns the adjective “melancholic” primarily through Yorke’s voice. Occasionally there are excursions into experimental warp territory; sometimes it sounds like vintage synth-pop, sometimes like prog without the rock. In the last track, »Wandering Genie,« everything dissolves – Pritchard and Yorke let the genies of musical pasts out of the bottle.
