Thom Yorke has teased at an upcoming new release with Mark Pritchard, titled ‘Back In The Game’.
The Radiohead frontman debuted the brand new song during his recent solo tour at a show in Christchurch, New Zealand in October – watch footage of that performance below.
The track is thought to be part of a full-length collaborative record that Yorke has been working on with the Australian producer Mark Pritchard, and now both artists have posted teasers that signal the track might be released on Thursday (February 13).
Yorke posted an enigmatic, abstract clip on his Instagram on Friday (February 7) which includes a brief loop of pulsing, horror-themed music, while Pritchard posted the same clip, as well as the message: “BACK IN THE GAME. 13.02.25. SIGN UP FOR NEWS.” He also tagged Yorke into the post, as well as Warp Records and the artist Jonathan Zawada.
Yorke and Pritchard have worked together multiple times before, dating back to the latter’s remix of Radiohead’s ‘Bloom’ in 2011. They went on to make the 2016 track ‘Beautiful People’ together, which then appeared on Pritchard’s album ‘Under The Sun’.
It would be Yorke’s first major release since ‘Cutouts’, the latest album by The Smile, the band he formed with Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. NME gave the LP a four-star review, and described it as the band “seem[ing] to be having more fun than ever”.
“The Smile’s M.O., then, seems to be experimentation without the baggage of Yorke and Greenwood’s bulging back catalogue – and ‘Cutouts’ certainly delivers here,” it read. “Featuring the London Contemporary Orchestra, the album was recorded in Oxford and Abbey Road Studios alongside ‘Wall of Eyes’, but this is a freer, more playful set than its predecessor.
Last year, Yorke made headlines by saying he “really doesn’t give a fuck” if fans want Radiohead to return. When asked by Australian outlet Double J about his thoughts on speculation over the band’s future, he replied: “I am not aware of it and don’t really give a flying fuck.”
“No offence to anyone and err, thanks for caring,” he continued. “But I think we’ve earned the right to do what makes sense to us without having to explain ourselves or be answerable to anyone else’s historical idea of what we should be doing.”
That came after bassist Colin Greenwood caught up with NME around the release of his new photo book How To Disappear, and opened up about the band’s reunion rehearsals over the summer.
Before then, his brother Jonny shared with NME that he found the rehearsals “fun and natural”, but went on to add that there are “no plans” for anything Radiohead-related in 2025, as the members are focused on “individual projects”.
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