A line of eager fans stretched from the Apple Store to J. Crew Tuesday awaiting the 1 p.m. release of “The Universal Sigh,” a newspaper put out by alternative band Radiohead to promote its newest album, “King of Limbs.”
The 12-page broadsheet includes guest-written pieces by Robert MacFarlane, author of
“The Wild Places,” as well as Jay Griffiths who wrote “Wild: An Elemental Journey,” and Stanley Donwood.
It features original artwork illustrating disparate concepts from the end of the cosmos predicted in Norse mythology to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Urpflanze, or archetypal plant.
The paper was released at 1 p.m. local time across the nation, as well as on the website theuniversalsigh.com.
Shayna Peveler, who works in Santa Monica, said that although she’d already seen the PDF online, she wanted to get a physical copy of the paper, which she appreciated as a new manifestation of Radiohead’s art.
“I was curious to see if it would actually happen,” Peveler said.
“The King of Limbs” is Radiohead’s eighth studio album, released Feb. 18 to hungry fans. The band has won three Grammy awards, and numerous accolades from across the globe.