Radiohead has been teasing a new album for a while now, with internet detectives hunting through the band’s virtual garbage can for clues, and frontman Thom Yorke desperately straining to keep his eager, hint-dropping bandmates reined in. Now, one of those carefully maintained security valves has been let loose, with the band’s manager, Brian Message, revealing today that the album will arrive in June.
Message made the statements during an interview he gave today at London’s Wanstead Tap beer shop, presumably from deep within a leather armchair and a T-shirt reading “Ask me about Britishness.” He also promised that the new album—which speculation suggests might end up being named Dawn Chorus—would be “like nothing you’ve ever heard,” a claim that’s a little easier to buy coming from Radiohead, rather than, say, Blink-182.
The new album would be the band’s first since 2011’s The King Of Limbs, although Yorke released a solo project, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, back in 2014. Radiohead’s currently gearing up for a world tour, presumably in support of the new album. The scheduled tour will see them traveling to three different continents over the next few months, including a headlining set at Chicago’s Lollapalooza 2016 in July.
UPDATE: Radiohead’s management company has released a statement basically to the effect of, “Who?” Here’s what it says:
At an industry event in London last night Brian Message was asked about new Radiohead music. Quotes attributed to him and taken from his talk have subsequently appeared, describing him as Radiohead’s manager.
Brian Message is not Radiohead’s manager - he is a partner in Courtyard Management but plays no operational role, and therefore any quotes from last night’s event, or any supposition arising from them, should not be attributed to Radiohead’s management or be seen as official quotes on behalf of the group.
So this Message guy liked Radiohead’s new album and thinks it’s great, but that doesn’t mean Radiohead’s official management feels the same way. Officially.