Top Ten Albums of 2006: #2 - "The Eraser" by Thom Yorke

There's no way to talk about Thom Yorke's The Eraser without mentioning Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac. The band's bold flirtations with electronica back in 2000 clearly planted the seeds for Yorke's quietly powerful solo debut six years later.

The sonic formula for the album is quite consistent, and Nigel Godrich's contributions cannot be underestimated (he serves as arranger, producer, mixer and musician on the album). Yorke's relatively unadorned vocals are placed front and center, backed by minimalist instrumentation built largely from electronics. It's a subversive tactic, because the album's easy flow belies the emotional weight of the songs themselves. Every single track has moments of lyrical brilliance, and no other vocalist can match Yorke's ability to convey the anxieties and psychoses of modern life with such arresting beauty and fragile strength.

Moreso than any album of 2006, this one has grown on me with each successive listen. Whereas I was initially ambivalent towards it, at this point I consider The Eraser to be an obvious classic.