Radiohead: mentions the Binary Theory during BBC Radio interview

Thom Yorke and Ed O’Brien sat down with Steve Lamacq for an interview on BBC Radio 6. This was Radiohead’s first radio interview since they released In Rainbows.

Thirty-eight minutes into the interview, Thom Yorke mentioned Puddlegum’s Binary Theory and the Golden Section Theory (also known as the Golden Ratio) that was discussed in the ensuing comments.

Several minutes later Steve Lamacq asks Radiohead about the idea of “shuffling” In Rainbows, which might have stemmed from the 10 and 01 playlist.

Listen to the interview on BBC 6, available until 11/26.

Here is a short transcript from the hour long interview:
(thanks to Babs for helping us transcribe.)

Steve>> ‘Fessing up time. The first time I heard this record, and you know me, I always give you an honest opinion, ‘fessing up time. The first time I heard [In Rainbow] the thing that I found really strange was that there was no… there didn’t seem to be a center to this record. Didn’t seem to have a certain sense of a focus. If you go back to Hail to the Thief, lyrically there’s various sort of themes running through it, fatherhood, maybe the political landscape outside of the family home, and there was something kind of holding it together. Less so with this record, do you think?
Thom>> No.
Steve>> Right.
Thom>> But only because… No, the center is Reckoner, I think.
Steve>> Do you?
Thom>> Yeah. `Cause that’s where it goes into a space of its own. The central point, because we separate like ripples on a blank shore, it’s… that that’s the center. Everything’s leading to that point then going away from that point.
Steve>> So literally it’s quite like dropping the pebble in a pool?
Thom>> For me anyway, yeah. And then I tell you what though. We did something, we were talking to somebody this morning, and there’s all these mad theories on the net, I mean I don’t… you know, I’m not one of these people who ever reads them, but someone read one out to me. It’s all about 10s, and apparently mathematically that is the center point.
Ed>> Isn’t it the golden section theory?
Thom>> Yeah, the Golden Section Theory. So if you’re really, really, really, really stuck for something to do, you could always read up about that.
Steve>> Musically though as well, you’ve mined various seams with different albums. Tested different parts with what the band is about and what it’s capable of doing. This one feels like you’ve gone down the mine, but found different seams. You’re working on different parts, stretching different parts of your music. Instead of going particularly in one direction, I think.
Thom>> Really? Huh. I think there was less of trying to follow an aesthetic and more trying to sort of be true to the songs themselves, and what was going on with the words, and so on. Ed was big on the words on this record. He kept sort of focusing back on that.
Ed>> That to me is that I kind of, you know for me music, with music in the last four years I
personally went through a phase of not really being able to listen to music, sort of four years ago. And the thing that I came back to was a song. A song is lyrics. You know a song is a singer, and that’s 80% of it, and the music is like 20%. It’s the thing that backs…
Thom>> Can we discuss that with the publishers later? *laughter* Sorry, carry on…
Ed>> Well it’s about half and half with this thing. And that was the thing for me, was like the notable thing when we reconvened, there were these lyrics, and sort of really latching onto lyrics. Because I felt like they were sort of universal. There wasn’t a political agenda. There was a… it’s being human, it’s being, you know? There’s a lot of humanity in that.
Steve>> I think that’s the intimacy. That’s the connection.
Ed>> Yeah, you know, I was getting a buzz hearing the lyrics. And that being like, you know, on a genuine, sort of very profound level. I think what you’ve done on the Eraser as well, that the voice for us, the hearing it, the voice is upfront as well. You didn’t pull the voice back. And so the voice was upfront. So that was really good to hear. That was like, wow, we need to do that. And it was just getting the songs right, and getting the background right to the vocal and to get these lyrics heard because that’s basically what it’s about.
Steve>> Had the experience of doing the Eraser, did that shape how you approached or contributed to this record?
Thom>> Oh, it kind of threw me a bit initially, because…
Steve>> All of a sudden there were these other blokes in the road! *laughter*
Ed>> Disagreeing with you!
Thom>> Understatement number eight!
Ed>> Life was a bit trickier!
Thom>> Yeah! Hang on a minute! So yes. Let’s answer the question. No need to elab-o-rate!
Steve>> So coming back to the … I don’t know whether it’s something to do with continuity but I mentioned that we were talking about the album to one of your mega-fans, and she was saying actually that this is the first Radiohead record which works on shuffle.
Thom>> Oh really?
Ed>> That’s cool.
Thom>> I’m glad we wasted those two weeks putting it together! *laughter*
Steve>> After you were saying about constructing it, and the track listing must be like this, and it works on shuffle.
Ed>> Or maybe that you just have to find the right ten songs that you can shuffle to make it work.

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