"The
National Anthem," is the album's
"Exit Music." The bass line
(which is actually played by
Thom on the album) is wildly
hypnotic and the pure and utter
body of this song forcing attention
onto itself and away from Thom's
vocals, which are prominently
less featured on this album
compared to the others. This
is not to say that his vocals
aren't stunning, but the fact
that Yorke's vocals were ProTooled
around with (small vocal parts
cut and pasted to repeat over
and over again), displays the
band's interest in concentrating
less on the centerpiece of the
band and more on the collective
entity. The bombarding and escalating
brass ensemble on "TNA," first
appear almost cliche in it's
perfect disorder -- horns of
all kinds coming from everywhere
in a very discomforting manner
-- the cliche ends once Thom
screams and begs out "It's holding
on!" with as much conviction
as possible. That's when you
get the idea. That's when you
understand that it's the anti-cliche.
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