Philip Selway Is “Picking Up Pieces” on New Single

Radiohead drummer Philip Selway has today shared “Picking Up Pieces,” the latest single from his upcoming third solo album Strange Dance. 

With guitar accompaniment from Portishead’s Adrian Utley, “Picking Up Pieces” demonstrates some of the life wisdom Selway has picked up along the way throughout his multi-decade music career: “‘Picking Up Pieces’ is a song about the masking that we do when we’re young adults,” he said in a press release. “It’s a time of life when your sense of identity can feel shaky, you can feel anxious about making the grade, and life can feel that it’s spinning out of control, but you try to hide this from everyone.”

On the brisk-tempo track, Selway speaks from the perspective of a younger narrator: “I’m on the outside looking in,” he sings in harmony over a gorgeous orchestral string accompaniment. This is a Radiohead member we’re talking about, so “Picking Up Pieces” does have some eerie undertones, and its propulsive drums could’ve been lifted straight from A Moon Shaped Pool. But what you don’t often hear in Radiohead is a victorious air of hope, which Selway incorporates here.

Check out the video for “Picking Up Pieces” below.

Selway has also shared Strange Dance lead single “Check for Signs of Life.” The new album follows 2014’s Weatherhouse.