Radiohead must be one of the most polarising bands making music today. There are those who hail them as genre-bending pioneers, but also those who liken their success to the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes. And with a new album comes a whole batch of pretentious squabbling between various camps.

The new album is called The King of Limbs, and a video for the first single has also been uploaded. Lotus Flower basically features Thom Yorke in black and white, singing along to the song and performing very strange body movements. These gyrations range from closing one eye and slurring his speech, or clapping his hands frantically, to mimicking gymnastic movements. The song itself refers to the oriental Lotus flower and according to Hindu beliefs, “its unfolding petals suggest the expansion of the soul.” They continue to explain that the “growth of its pure beauty from the mud of its origin holds a benign spiritual promise.” Make of that what you will and then attempt to connect this interpretation to a dancing Thom Yorke.

It might surprise you to hear this, but apparently the whole video is choreographed – as in someone TOLD Thom Yorke how to dance and when. The guy responsible for the choreography is Wayne McGregor, and for his very long list of achievements have a look at his Wikipedia page. With such an impressive CV, you’d think it would be dead easy for him to shed some kind of light into his thought process when choreographing the video. Instead he seems to live up to the pretentious hipster stereotype that his outfit in this interview suggests.

First of all, did you notice the following?

– His black-rimmed glasses?

– His kitsch t-shirt with the Indian, wolf and moon on it?

– The wallpaper of a bookcase full of books in the background?

– His whole body language that suggests he is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders?

– That nothing the interviewer asks amuses or piques his interest? The true mark of a pseudo-intellectual: he is not allowed ever to look impressed – mildly amused at best, but never impressed.

– He refuses to go into ANY detail or respond to ANY questions about his work? In fact, he takes offense when asked a question.This is a common trait of pseudo-intellectuals as well, and protects them from getting caught out when speaking to actual intellectuals.

As someone who has been around since the first Radiohead album and has followed the band’s doings ever since, something feels weird to me about all of this. Is this guy for real or is this yet another elaborate, choreographed, statement that Radiohead is trying to make? And even if they really hired him and he performed sincerely what was asked of him , was Radiohead sincere when hiring him?