Radiohead – Amnesiac (2xLP)

Amnesiac, released in 2001, is Radiohead’s fifth studio album and a companion piece to Kid A. It blends subtle rock elements with ambient electronics, jazz flourishes, and experimental textures. The album’s tracks—ranging from the meditative Pyramid Song to the jagged I Might Be Wrong—navigate tension, unease, and emotional ambiguity. Rather than sounding like outtakes, Amnesiac feels deliberate: it offers a different inflection on some of the same impulses that shaped Kid A, while breathing with its own identity.

What makes Amnesiac compelling is its balance between the accessible and the abstract. Some songs land as haunting ballads; others push into jagged territory; still others wash in atmospheric drift. The album resists neat categorization, reflecting a band unafraid to explore the margins where melody, dissonance, and texture collide. Over time, it’s earned a reputation not just as a sibling to Kid A but as a vital part of Radiohead’s evolving vision.

Reviews

“Met with confusion back in 2001 … Amnesiac can take its rightful place among Radiohead’s classics.” – Pitchfork Pitchfork

“After months of waiting … Amnesiac finally hit store shelves … it was all a lie.” – Pitchfork Pitchfork

“Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it ‘a hodgepodge’ that ‘clearly derives from the same source’ as Kid A.” – AllMusic AllMusic