To celebrate the physical release of their latest album The King of Limbs, Radiohead have published a special edition newspaper called The Universal Sigh. It was given out on Monday 28th March in a few specific locations around the world and was distributed in London outside Rough Trade East, a predictable location that was, annoyingly, just a bit too far from where I live. Still I trekked the distance in order to be part of yet another publicity stunt from the band.
Once in the queue, I had difficulty explaining to myself why the hell I was there but decided to block out all sensible thought and just wait patiently for those three sheets of paper I so desperately wanted. After about 15 minutes of queuing it became apparent that Thom Yorke himself was distributing the newspaper – what joy! I finally had a reason for being there – this was his chance to apologise for blanking me on St Giles a few months ago when all I wanted was to praise him for his incredible music.
People were getting frantic, arms waving and brandishing iPhones and cameras – everyone wanted a piece of Thom. Only a few moments away from meeting the Radiohead front man, I had convinced myself that I would be decidedly unimpress
ed by him and say something about our brief encounter in Oxford. Instead, I withdrew into my shell and managed to mumble a \’thanks for this man\’ as he handed me my very own copy of The Universal Sigh. I failed to stand up to the musician, but I knew that wasn\’t the last time I would see him.
The newspaper itself is an odd melange of poetry, lyrics from The King Of Limbs, and short stories from acclaimed writers such as Jay Griffiths and Robert Mcfarlane. The centre spread is a jumble of lyrics and slightly scary imagery that extracted nothing more than a sigh from my being. Even though I was slightly unimpressed with the actual product, it is a testament to the creativity of this band who are always pushing the boundaries of their music as they involve their fans and keep them second guessing. It\’s definitely one for the collection box.
Don\’t beat yourself up if you didn\’t manage to snatch one up. Visit the website instead (http://theuniversalsigh.com/) to see pictures of devoted fans all around the world who queued for hours for free paper and ink. Not sure I\’ll be telling the grandchildren about this one.
