Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard – Back in the Game Review

Almost a decade on from their previous collaboration, it appears Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard are moved by the unnerving, carnival world. Their soundscape is one of intense, whirring electronics. Thuds of rage and beats rife with squeaking metallics. Back in the Game is a bold title as it stands, with the pair now needing to make good on this return to the playing field. They do well enough with this song, a flashback to 2020. It may feel strange to take a traipse through those memories, given how horrific a year it was, but Yorke is adamant, as is Pritchard, on finding some good in a dark time. But it also marks a return for Pritchard, who has been largely absent from new releases in the last five years. His return is in safe hands and in front of more eyes with Yorke attached. A song of soft lockdown reflections, aiming for the relatively tame reactions the wider UK populous had.  

Back in the Game is their attempt, a high-strung track where the heavy tuba clashes with the cutting high notes. A nice pairing, but beyond instrumental interest, Back in the Game struggles. Those staggered and meandering steps towards clarity after a late night or heavy drinking is what begins to form here. But it never develops further, just another hangup of isolation – a dangerous one at that – though never hitting on the subtleties or reflections expected. Instead, they are thrown together with moments of reflection on idiocy, on hand-wringing actions meant to exonerate the mind for not doing anything of real action. Clashing pots and pans together for the NHS stands out here, Back in the Game holding no punches against the performative non-action. But beyond a few swings at a culture which most of us wish to forget, or were never a part of, it struggles to find new ground.  

Instrumentally it feels refreshing and like a relatively strong project for Pritchard. But it is Yorke who struggles, shifting on the loose political ground near his feet. Feeling free to comment on actions which occurred five years ago yet swerving around some of the more immediate, pressing political matters. Picking and choosing is up to the artist, but Back in the Game will fuel an already raging fire as he calls out those “sucking on lemons” while backed by brass. This is a song where Yorke and Pritchard paint themselves as dissatisfied with the world around them. Back in the Game is little more than a pot-clashing exercise.  

They are what they criticise but there are a few moments of interest to warrant listening to Back in the Game. Reductive chat around what Yorke and the rest of Radiohead are working on ahead of what may be another reunion will see some point at this and shake their fists. The issue is not working with fascinating creatives like Pritchard, whose instrumental work here is jagged and brutal in spots, but in realising Yorke is slowly, perhaps, starting to lose the lyrical edge he once had. Hand-wringing moments in contemporary culture are rightly chastised by a man whose own political perspective is starting to be picked apart by even passive listeners. Back in the Game is solid, if a bit forgettable. The return of Pritchard is overshadowed by the irony in the social commentaries within.  

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