Radiohead have finally released their ninth studio album A Moon Shaped Pool, and while music critics the world over are rushing to have their opinions on it heard (read our thoughts here), one 8 year old child’s musings on it have well and truly caught our eye with its honest criticisms and raw writing talent.
Twitter user Beth Gordon’s child (who shall remain nameless in the interest of having a normal childhood) delivered a track by track analysis of the album so poignant and insightful that upstanding media outlets like this one are falling over themselves to republish it. It’s almost as if they’re starved for content?
Calling first track Burn The Witch “festival like”, young Gordon pulls no punches in the piece, going on to dismiss Daydreaming as “a long song, kind of boring.” Like most critics though the review doesn’t bother with consistency, calling track four Desert Island Disk a favourite only to turn around and give that same honour to Tinker, Tailor… (it’s widely acknowledged by experts in the field though that as they circled the latter, this is the young reviewer’s true favourite).
Still, if this all seemed frighteningly mature for an 8 year old (how do they know what “festival like” sounds like?) never fear as the kid brought their own experience to bear on the review in parts too, saying of The Numbers that it “reminds me of Kung Fu Panda“. Surely high praise.
Giving the album a score of 7/10, it’s hard to argue with undeniable logic. Still describing album closer (and old b-side) True Love Waits as having the potential to “make people cry”, maybe even this 8 year old is a little cynical as to what constitutes an 8 or 9 out of 10.
In the meantime check out the full review, here below.
A track-by-track review of @radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool (by my 8-year-old). #AMoonShapedPool pic.twitter.com/CkNNYkT6Fb
— Beth Gordon (@bethgordon) May 8, 2016