The Eraser

The Eraser is the debut solo album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 10 July 2006 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, the longtime producer for Yorke's band Radiohead. The Eraser comprises electronic music Yorke recorded between his work with Radiohead in 2004 and 2005. The lyrics express his political concerns. "Harrowdown Hill" concerns the death of the British weapons inspector David Kelly, and several songs reference climate change. The cover art, by Radiohead's longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood, was inspired by the legend of King Canute failing to command the ocean, which Yorke likened to government climate policies. The Eraser debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart and number two on the American Billboard 200. It was promoted with the singles "Harrowdown Hill", which reached No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart, and "Analyse". The Eraser received mainly positive reviews; critics praised Yorke's vocals and lyrics, but found it weaker than his work with Radiohead. It was named one of the best albums of 2006 by NME, Rolling Stone and The Observer, and was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize and the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. It is certified gold in the UK, Canada and Japan. The Eraser was followed by a B sides compilation EP, Spitting Feathers (2006), and a remix album, The Eraser Rmxs (2008). In 2009, to perform the Eraser material live, Yorke formed a new band, Atoms for Peace, with musicians including Godrich and the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.

In 2004, after finishing the tour for their sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), Radiohead went on hiatus. Radiohead's songwriter, Thom Yorke, began recording The Eraser, his first solo release, with Radiohead's producer, Nigel Godrich, in late 2004. Work continued throughout 2005 between Radiohead sessions. The album was recorded in Radiohead's Oxford studio, Yorke's home, and Godrich's studio at the Hospital Club, London. As Radiohead formed while the members were in school, Yorke said he was curious to try working alone for the first time. The Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood said: "He had to get this stuff out, and everyone was happy [for Yorke to make it] He'd go mad if every time he wrote a song it had to go through the Radiohead consensus." On The Eraser, he and Yorke were able to "pull in the same direction". To generate ideas, he cut and pasted clips at random from Radiohead's library of original samples, He sent fragments to Godrich, who identified passages that could become songs, edited them and returned them to Yorke. Yorke said "Harrowdown Hill" had existed during the Hail to the Thief sessions, but could not have worked as a Radiohead song. Yorke initially intended to create instrumental music, Godrich wanted Yorke's voice to be "dry and loud", without the reverb and other effects used on Radiohead records. Another song, "The Hollow Earth", was finished later and released as a single in 2009. In 2005, Yorke appeared on the web series From the Basement, performing songs including the Eraser track "Analyse".

According to the Guardian, The Eraser features "skittery" and "pattery" beats and "minimal post rockisms". David Fricke of Rolling Stone felt the lyrics had an "emotional and pictorial directness" that was rare for Yorke. The lines "No more going to the dark side with your flying saucer eyes / No more falling down a wormhole that I have to pull you out", from "Atoms for Peace", were inspired by an "admonition" from Yorke's partner, Rachel Owen. The song title references a 1953 speech by the American president Dwight D. Eisenhower. According to The Globe and Mail, "The Clock", influenced by Arabic music, is a "gliding, droning song about losing control while pretending 'that you are still in charge'."

The Eraser cover art was created by Stanley Donwood, who also creates Radiohead's artwork. The cover, a linocut titled London Views, depicts a figure standing before London destroyed by flood in imitation of King Canute failing to command the ocean. and an article by environmentalist Jonathan Porritt comparing the British government's attitude to climate change to the Canute legend. He also felt The Eraser was a "very English record", and that the London imagery fit this.

On 11 May 2006, Yorke posted a link to the official Eraser site on the Radiohead website. Two days later, he wrote in a press release: "I have been itching to do something like this for ages. It was fun and quick to do Yes, it's a record! No, it's not a Radiohead record." Before the release, "Black Swan" was used in the closing credits of the film A Scanner Darkly. The Eraser was released on 11 July 2006 Yorke said he chose XL because "it's very mellow. There's no corporate ethic. [Major labels are] stupid little boys' games – especially really high up." The Eraser debuted at number three in the UK Albums Chart and stayed in the top 100 for ten weeks. In the United States, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling more than 90,000 copies in its first week. "Harrowdown Hill" was released as a single on 21 August, reaching number 23 on the UK Singles Chart, followed by "Analyse" on 6 November. The Eraser was followed by a compilation of B sides, Spitting Feathers, and a 2008 album of remixes by various artists, The Eraser Rmxs. In July 2009, Yorke performed solo at Latitude Festival and found it was possible to perform Eraser songs on acoustic instruments. He contacted Godrich with the idea of forming a band to perform The Eraser without sequencers, reproducing the electronic beats with Latin percussion. They formed a new band, Atoms for Peace, with musicians including the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. The band performed eight North American shows in 2010, and released an album, Amok, in 2013.

On the review aggregator site Metacritic, The Eraser has a score of 76/100, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said: "These aren't Radiohead songs, or demos for Radiohead songs. They're something different, something we haven't heard before It's intensely beautiful, yet it explores the kind of emotional turmoil that makes the angst of [Radiohead albums] OK Computer or The Bends sound like kid stuff." In The Guardian, Alexis Petridis wrote that The Eraser "offers a plethora of low key delights", but "you can't help imagining what it might have sounded like if Yorke had turned it over to Radiohead". Pitchfork wrote that The Eraser is "strikingly beautiful and thuddingly boring in maddeningly equal measure". the 30th by The Observer, and the 34th by Rolling Stone. It was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Prize and the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. It is certified gold in the UK, Canada and Japan.