2009 single by Thom Yorke
"FeelingPulledApartByHorses" and "TheHollowEarth" are songs by Thom Yorke, produced by Nigel Godrich. The songs were self-released as a limited double A-side vinyl in September 2009 and as a download on 6 October 2009.
"FeelingPulledApartByHorses" began as a Radiohead song, and was first performed in 2001. Yorke later performed it with his bands Atoms for Peace and the Smile. "TheHollowEarth" came from the recording sessions for Yorke's album The Eraser (2006).
Writing and recording
Yorke's band Radiohead performed an early version of "FeelingPulledApartByHorses", then titled "Reckoner", in 2001. Yorke likened it to heavy metal.[1] Pitchfork described it as a "droning rocker",[2] and Rolling Stone wrote that it featured "one of the loudest and most sinister riffs in Radiohead's catalog".[3] In 2005, Yorke performed the song solo on acoustic guitar at a Trade Justice Movement show.[4]
Working on the song for their 2007 album In Rainbows, Radiohead added a coda that developed into a different song with the original title, "Reckoner".[5] Afterwards, Yorke and the Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood reworked the original song to create the final version.[6] They omitted the chorus[3] and added bass guitar, "glitchy" drums, "disembodied" vocals, and an extended synthesiser coda.[2] Rolling Stone described it as "more subdued and textural", in the style of Yorke's 2006 album The Eraser.[3]
Yorke described "TheHollowEarth" as a "bass menace" that came from the recording sessions for The Eraser.[6]
Release
The songs were self-released as a double A-side 12-inch single on 21 September 2009 and as a download on 6 October 2009.[6] The vinyl was limited to 8000 copies worldwide.[7]
Reception
Pitchfork gave "FeelingPulledApartByHorses" a positive review, writing: "Quartering, in medieval times, meant being pulled apart by horses; Yorke's skillful production here re-imagines that punishment as a disorienting pleasure."[2]
