Dragonflies

After Radiohead’s last show in Berlin, I wondered whether the band I had just seen on stage would ever record anything new. Watching the musicians interact with each other and the audience, I got the feeling they had really missed playing together. I thought they might release at least an EP after the tour, as they had done before. But Thom Yorke’s recent interview with Harry Styles, in which the Radiohead frontman admitted it had taken him months to recover from the European tour, cooled my enthusiasm.

Fortunately, two albums released this year should keep Radiohead fans happy. The first is Blue Morpho, the second solo album by the band’s guitarist, Ed O’Brien. It often recalls the jazzier, more experimental parts of Hail to the Thief and works much better than his solo debut, which focused more on conventional songs. Darkness, jazz and experimentation suit him much better.

The second is the debut by Dragonflies, a band formed by Nigel Godrich - Radiohead’s producer since OK Computer - and Dhani Harrison, George Harrison’s son, whose solo work is strongly rooted in electronic music. The two first met around the time of the pandemic, when Harrison returned to London from Los Angeles and needed help with his solo album Innerstanding. Godrich invited him to his studio, where they began experimenting and recording together.

I admit I have a soft spot for almost anything Godrich touches, from Travis’s The Man Who to Beck’s latest album. Especially when he works with Joey Waronker, a drummer I have followed since Beck’s Mellow Gold. His playing is minimal and thoughtful, and he has recently been touring with Oasis. Their records together - including those by Ultraísta, the trio they formed with Laura Bettinson - always promise a musical adventure. Dragonflies is no exception.

After hearing the first single, Slower, which was also the first song they wrote during the Brixton sessions, I expected a fairly experimental album with jazz influences. The track builds gradually, with Godrich looping parts recorded during rehearsals, while Dhani Harrison introduces himself as a singer whose warm voice fits the trip-hop atmosphere perfectly. But about halfway through, there is a moment that suggests Dragonflies will offer more than the experiments we know from Ultraísta or Atoms for Peace. Dhani delivers the moving lines Some things have to break / So I’m taking it slower, followed by a powerful string section arranged by David Campbell - Beck’s father and another regular Godrich collaborator.

And that is exactly what happens. On my first listen, I was completely surprised by how song-focused this album is. Dhani’s singing is quite traditional, but his vocal parts on Ophelia (this should have been the first single) and The Weight (I have been waiting for a Radiohead song like this for years) are varied and interesting. His voice is a real discovery for me. As a songwriter and producer, Nigel Godrich also makes sure that each of these eight tracks has something of its own. Setting Sun has a cleverly arranged, pulsing rhythm section, while Straight Line features piano chords that sound like they could come from In Rainbows. The closing track, End of World, brings to mind the synths of Idioteque and feels like a slow countdown to the end of the world.

On my first listen, I put the album on repeat and played it several times in a row - something I had not done with any other record released this year. With each listen, I found new connections and interesting details hidden in these songs. And all of this in just 38 minutes of music. I hope there is more to come from this line-up.