Radiohead have premiered I Promise, the first previously unreleased track to be unearthed from their forthcoming OK Computer reissue.
The song, which dates to 1996, is one of three fan-favourite songs on the group’s OKNOTOK 20th-anniversary box set, joining Lift and Man of War. Driven by an almost military drum beat, it is backed by acoustic guitar and Thom Yorke’s keening vocals: “I won’t run away no more, I promise / Even when I get bored, I promise / Even when you lock me out, I promise.”
OKNOTOK is released on 23 June through XL Recordings, and will include eight B-sides as well as the three reworked tracks that have been “rescued from defunct formats, prised from dark cupboards and brought to light after two decades in cold storage”. The album also comes with a hardcover book containing artworks, some of which have never been seen before by anyone outside of the band, a scrapbook containing Yorke’s notes from the time and a C90 cassette mixtape compiled by the band, taken from OK Computer session archives and demo tapes.
The band recently discussed the period in which this album was released – specifically regarding the flurry of excitement relating to Britpop. “To us, Britpop was just a 1960s revival. It just leads to pastiche. It’s you wishing it was another era. But as soon as you go down that route, you might as well be a Dixieland jazz band,” Jonny Greenwood told Rolling Stone.
“The whole Britpop thing made me fucking angry,” Yorke added. “I hated it. It was backwards-looking, and I didn’t want any part of it.”
As well as the bumper reissue of their classic album, Radiohead headline Glastonbury on 23 June.
