After mysteriously purging everything from its social media accounts over the weekend, Radiohead returned from a five-year long hiatus today with the new single, "Burn the Witch," along with an accompanying claymation video. "Burn the Witch" is the band's first single since the 2011 release of The King of Limbs, that is, if you discount its version of "Spectre" from the 2015 James Bond film of the same name.
The stop-motion video is directed by Chris Hopewell, and is meant to channel The Wicker Man, a classic horror film about secluded and sinister pagan community in Scotland. The song's release was a surprise, but the band has actually been hinting about the title recently. Just last week, they mailed numerous fans postcards with the message, "Sing the song of sixpence that goes Burn the Witch. We know where you live." Some believed this to be the name of their upcoming album, but now we know that it was hinting at the new single title.
Although very little is known about the band's ninth studio album, their manager has claimed that it could be out as soon as June. This would make sense, as their upcoming tour is scheduled to kick off at the end of May. Many were confused when the band scrubbed all the old posts off its Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts over the weekend, but it's starting to look like it's all just a part of Radiohead's famous non-traditional album rollouts. The song will be available on digital platforms starting tomorrow.
It's probably worth noting that the band also changed its Twitter avatar to this image.
The band posted clips from the video on Instagram Monday night, which you can view, below.
