Hit The Bottom And Escape

Lianne La Havas “Weird Fishes”

Lianne La Havas co-wrote all but one of the songs on her new album so I feel a little bad about focusing in on the one she didn’t write, which is a Radiohead song. I mean no disrespect to her as a songwriter, but her work in arranging and performing “Weird Fishes” is remarkable, up to the point of rivaling the original Radiohead version in quality. La Havas’ version of the song isn’t far off from Radiohead’s arrangement, but she loosens up some of its stiffness and foregrounds R&B elements that they had left under the surface. There are other songs from In Rainbows that are more obviously Radiohead approximations of R&B – “Nude,” “House of Cards,” “All I Need” – but “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” tilts more towards their art rock comfort zone with its interlocking guitar melodies and Steve Shelley-ish beat. La Havas’ interpretation is inspired in hearing the soul in this one, for slowing it down to a more liesurely Erykah Badu-ish pace and giving space for the vocal to convey a sensuousness that Thom Yorke stops short of fully exploring. It’s not hard to imagine members of Radiohead listening to this recording and hearing the song they were trying to make but were not able to create due to their limitations as performers. These limitations are what give their own performances and recordings character, but an interpretation of their work on this level this reveals their full range as songwriters.

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