Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood dissects ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ on NPR

Radiohead fans ahoy - Jonny Greenwood’s dissected ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ in extremely thorough detail on NPR.

Speaking to Bob Boilen, the Radiohead member took apart album tracks ‘Burn the Witch’ ‘Daydreaming’ and ‘Glass Eyes,’ as well as shedding light on the band’s relationship with frontman Thom Yorke.

“Part of the problem is Thom will sit at the piano and play a song like ‘Pyramid Song’ and we’re going to record it and how do we not make it worse, how do we make it better than him just playing it by himself, which is already usually quite great,” Jonny said. “We’re arrangers, really.”

He also spoke about the orchestral influences on Radiohead’s latest album; particularly on lead single ‘Burn the Witch’. “This song was one of the rare chances of getting our hands on an unfinished song, so we could put strings on right at the beginning,” he told NPR’s Bob Boilen. “Usually strings are an afterthought, decoration on the end of a song. I’ve been saying for years, wouldn’t it be great to start with strings. So this song was just Thom singing in a drum machine and nothing else. And then I wrote strings to that. So you’re hearing an orchestra play—they’re strumming their violins with guitar plectrums, that’s the rhythm.”

“Everytime I see someone in their 20s carrying a cello case or a violin case, I’m always a bit in awe,” he added. “I think they look very cool, compared to long-haired idiots like me carrying guitars. I know who I admire more.”

Listen to the whole interview below, via NPR.