The eyes of all serious music fans will be on the Roundhouse stage next week, when Radiohead make their first live appearance in London since 2012. A good place for Holly Herndon to be, then.
The San Francisco-based producer will be the support act across the three nights, and her innovative, intellectual electronica is more than challenging enough for the job.
On her most recent album, Platform from last year, she’s trading in the kind of taxing computer music from which Radiohead have edged away on their warmer new album. The clinks and rustles can be hard to grasp but take on new significance when you hear their back story: her song Home is called "a love song for prying eyes” and is dedicated to the National Security Agency, which she feels lives alongside the personal material inside her much-loved laptop.
Lonely at the Top explores the concept of ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response), where certain noises can give the listener a physical tingling sensation.
It features the shivery whispering of Claire Tolan, and it’s the chopped and jumbled voices throughout her work that give it its soul. If you’re lucky enough to have a Radiohead ticket, you’ll feel even more blessed if you get there early. If not, she’s back again next month for the Field Day festival.
May 26-28, Roundhouse, NW1 (0870 389 1846, roundhouse.org.uk)