Yahoo Finance Radiohead Release Surprise New Song And Video
Radiohead have posted a new song and video online, just days after deleting their entire history of tweets and other social media posts.
Burn The Witch was initially posted on YouTube and later made available for download - priced at 99p for an MP3 and £1.99 for the WAV version of the song.
The song is set against an animation which recalls the classic children’s TV show, Trumpton and combines a staccato string section with a throbbing bassline.
The video, which appears to be an animated retelling of classic movie The Wicker Man, ends with a man being burned alive.
According to its YouTube credit, the video was directed by Chris Hopewell, who also worked with Radiohead on their 2003 song, There There.
There was a mixed reaction on the band's Facebook page.
Liam Boyle said: "As always the most exciting an (sic) innovative band on the planet produce another classic track.. Great track!"
But James Wallace disagreed, writing: "More pretentious guff from Radiohead. At what point in this century did they give up on writing a decent chorus? This like everything else over the past few years is boring as hell."
The Oxfordshire band fuelled speculation about a new release by deleting their online history on Sunday.
They also sent cards to fans through the post, bearing their logo and the words: "Sing the song of sixpence that goes Burn The Witch".
Radiohead reappeared online on Tuesday morning, sharing three animations on Instagram, before posting the new song.
One of the animations showed a singing bird.
There was instant speculation that it could mean a new album is on the horizon this year, after the band registered a new company in January called Dawn Chorus LLP.
Radiohead also established companies before releasing In Rainbows in 2007, and The King Of Limbs, in 2011.
The band will play three dates in London at the end of May, all of which sold out in minutes.
Their tour also takes in several European cities as well as the US, Canada, Iceland, Mexico and Japan.
