Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 29
  2. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. 83
    In the case of Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, Yorke sounds as accomplished--and as natural--as he has in years.
  2. Sep 30, 2014
    82
    Thanks to Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, we’ve got a second dose of that Eraser sound. And yes, it’s pretty fantastic.
  3. Uncut
    Nov 11, 2014
    80
    Incrementally, Yorke's resilient gifts come into focus. [Dec 2014, p.83]
  4. 80
    Tomorrow... deepens on repeated listening, with Yorke locating moments of beauty and calm in the eye of his anxiety.
  5. Oct 1, 2014
    80
    Despite the immediacy and urgency of its public genesis, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes is probably the least immediate album Yorke has been involved with to date. Like Kid A before it, it may turn out to be one of his most enduring.
  6. Oct 1, 2014
    80
    There’s a distinct lack of choruses, and if you don’t like the rest of Yorke’s ouvre it would be kind of bizarre if this won you over. But really, if you have a tolerance for drums that go ‘fzzz’, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes is a lovely, lovely record, easily Yorke’s best non-Radiohead effort.
  7. Sep 30, 2014
    80
    Yorke has written an album's worth of disarmingly straightforward pop ballads, dressed up with affectionately retro turn-of-the-century glitchcore effects.
  8. Sep 30, 2014
    80
    Tomorrow's Modern Boxes successfully pulls off a transitional balancing act that maintains the trademark elements of a Thom Yorke release while injecting subtle moments of fresh invention that hint at new sounds to come.
  9. Sep 29, 2014
    80
    Free of statements and the man’s desire to make every record some kind of grand manifesto, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes is a mini-triumph that’s only occasionally tarnished.
  10. Sep 29, 2014
    75
    It's not a radical upheaval and it's nothing especially new--at least as far as Yorke's output is concerned-- but then it doesn't have to be; he's been pioneering an often-unique sound for so long now that I'm just happy to have some other songs to listen to.


  11. Oct 30, 2014
    70
    The results may indeed be reflections of Yorke’s skill and sensitivity, but as compositions, they are self-contained and fully anticipated creations whose power to surprise or displace the listener has waned.
  12. Oct 17, 2014
    70
    The result is a curious mix: a subtle and often beautiful record about not very much at all.
  13. Oct 6, 2014
    70
    As ever with Yorke's solo work, it's at its best when the loveable tyke is going with the flow instead of deliberately trying to sabotage his own ear for melody, or trying to bugger up a voice that should just make peace with the fact it's quite pretty.
  14. Oct 3, 2014
    70
    At times it’s sketchy and frail, at others decidedly defiant.
  15. Sep 29, 2014
    70
    In the end, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes is undeniably enjoyable, acting like a 2014 version of The Eraser and adding some new Thom Yorke material to your music collection never hurts.
  16. Sep 29, 2014
    70
    On the new album, Mr. Yorke is both instantly recognizable and less crowd-pleasing than ever. But for anyone who’s stayed with him this far, it’s worth following him further into the murk.
  17. 70
    It’s hardly love at first listen.... Yet across repeat plays, the album’s charms begin to unfurl.
  18. Sep 29, 2014
    70
    Yorke’s meditations on the modern make Boxes thoroughly listenable but uneven. The album’s first half is noticeably more coherent and accessible than the challenge and trouble of the second movement.
  19. 67
    Given a dearth of hooks, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes demands a decent set of headphones to appreciate its foremost asset, technical construction.... Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes disappoints most when it approximates ordinary song structures.
  20. Sep 29, 2014
    67
    Flashes of brilliance aside, the result sounds an awful lot like something Yorke dashed off to pass the time before delving into the new Radiohead album.
  21. Oct 1, 2014
    63
    Certain elements of Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, if given the right amount of attention, can be enjoyable to luxuriate in.
  22. Sep 29, 2014
    63
    For almost 10 years, Yorke has carved a determined, idiosyncratic path as electronic singer-songwriter. It’s just a bit disappointing that that path seems short on new directions.
  23. Mojo
    Nov 19, 2014
    60
    A diverting, stoner-friendly 39 minutes. [Dec 2014, p.89]
  24. Oct 13, 2014
    60
    Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes is actually pretty good, and sometimes it’s great, but it is quiet, sounding very much like it sprung from the Internet ether to politely ask for thirty minutes of your attention.
  25. 60
    Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes doesn’t match up to In Rainbows--it’s closer in style to 2006’s introspective The Eraser--partly because, delivery method aside, there’s little in the way of surprises.
  26. Sep 29, 2014
    60
    In time, Boxes likely will be seen as belonging to Radiohead’s business-side innovations more than to its musical ones. It’s enjoyable yet slight, a hedged bet on a still-unproven concept.
  27. Sep 29, 2014
    60
    Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes is so deviously understated you wonder if it’s a sly cover for the seeding of Skynet.
  28. Oct 3, 2014
    58
    Yorke chose a modest delivery method for a modest album, hinting that the real goods have yet to come.
  29. Nov 26, 2014
    50
    Tomorrow's Modern Boxes is similar to The Eraser in its electronic aesthetic; it's cohesive but hardly the most compelling album he's released.
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 87 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 70 out of 87
  2. Negative: 7 out of 87
  1. Sep 30, 2014
    10
    Thom Yorke is amazing!! This new secret Project really surprise me and I'm addicted in all songs of it. The production is a kind different,Thom Yorke is amazing!! This new secret Project really surprise me and I'm addicted in all songs of it. The production is a kind different, but still better than so many stupid commercial things that went out this year. I cannot say that it's bad, because it isn't! This is a lot of powerful mind... Thom is really the best! Full Review »
  2. Sep 29, 2014
    9
    i know you are reading this Thom. album so refreshing after Atom for a peace stuff newer thought i am going to hear something so atmospherici know you are reading this Thom. album so refreshing after Atom for a peace stuff newer thought i am going to hear something so atmospheric and full of beautiful lo-fi sounds. Album by itself full of fragile sounds and and sensitive themes. Its been a while since there was such well written vocal melody's. .I bet this album gong to get lot of mixed reviews because of Thoms new direction and experimental stuff, but for me this one sounds like on of the honest albums Thom ever released where song fits perfectly together and gets you in to nostalgic autumns journey. Full Review »
  3. Sep 29, 2014
    10
    Imagine yourself inside a black gyroscope made by grass and looking for a hole to breathe. If you can't understand an album like this using aImagine yourself inside a black gyroscope made by grass and looking for a hole to breathe. If you can't understand an album like this using a post reality imagination, you don't deserve it. You maybe is allowing that an absolute truth says you what like or dislike about actual commercial music. Put your headphones and forget the paradigms. Transport yourself to that new world. You just need to do what Kid A taught you. Let it go. Full Review »