With the success of 1997's OK Computer, the band found itself in a pigeonhole- what do you do after you've created one of the century's top rock albums? Thus, the band locked themselves down and played around with electronica. Out came Kid A, a series of loops, clicks, beeps, and whirs, produced to sound like something incoherently musical. Continuing along the Kid A Sessions, was Amnesiac- something slightly more user-friendly, but very different from previous albums nonetheless. Running into a wall, the Thom Yorke and Co. decided a different songwriting method on Thief: write some songs, "market test" them to the fans, then record in 2 weeks. The boys of Radiohead are fierce like that, continually trying to push the musical envelope of sonic landscaping. And Thief does just that.

The album starts out with the song "2+2=5," an obvious reference to Orwell's 1984, and a recurrent theme in the album's lyrics. Through four movements in four minutes, Yorke screeches about his post-9/11 themes: emptyness, big brother, false politik... and continues it through the album ("There's a gap where we meet/Where I end & you begin"). Contrary to Kid A's vacancy of word, Thief is full of words and themes. In "Backdrifts," a guitar is looped backwards with dulled notes in a rather dizzying effect. "All evidence has been buried/All tapes have been erased," Yorke sings while something sounding like electricity pops pass him by in the background. Such as with "The Gloaming," it is clear that the electronic aspect of Radiohead has not faded away, but incorporated itself into the newer music.

Another thing Radiohead has done on Thief is remphasizing the role of the piano in rock music. Take for example "A Punchup at a Wedding," where the blues riff leads the piano while Yorke sings "I don't know why you bother/Nothing's ever good enough for you." Or the ballad "Sail to the Moon," which uses piano as an key instrument? Or there's the fuzz-ridden guitar on "Myxamatosis." No song is the same, but they're all linked together as a solid unit of songs.