The Eraser is the debut solo album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 10 July 2006 through XL Recordings.

"Harrowdown Hill" concerns the death of the British weapons inspector David Kelly, and several songs reference climate change.

The cover art, by Radiohead's longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood, was inspired by the legend of King Canute failing to command the ocean, which Yorke likened to government climate policies.

The Eraser received mainly positive reviews; critics praised Yorke's vocals and lyrics, but found it weaker than his work with Radiohead.

In 2009, to perform the Eraser material live, Yorke formed a new band, Atoms for Peace, with musicians including Godrich and the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.

[3] Yorke found it difficult to write lyrics to loops, saying he could not "react spontaneously and differently every time", so he translated the parts to guitar and piano and generated new elements in the process.

[1] One song recorded in the Eraser sessions, "Last Flowers", was released on the bonus disc of Radiohead's seventh album, In Rainbows (2007).

[14] Citing inspiration from the 1997 Björk album Homogenic, Yorke said The Eraser was designed to be heard in an "isolated space – on headphones, or stuck in traffic".

[3] In 2019, Uproxx said it was Yorke's "most straightforward" solo album, "the frontman of a famous rock band essentially presenting his latest tunes in the guise of a singer-songwriter record".

[17] The lines "No more going to the dark side with your flying saucer eyes / No more falling down a wormhole that I have to pull you out", from "Atoms for Peace", were inspired by an "admonition" from Yorke's partner, Rachel Owen.

[19] According to The Globe and Mail, "The Clock", influenced by Arabic music, is a "gliding, droning song about losing control while pretending 'that you are still in charge'".

[8] Yorke wrote "Harrowdown Hill" about David Kelly, a whistleblower who died after telling a reporter that the British government had falsely identified weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

[3] It was inspired by the 2004 Boscastle flood and an article by the environmentalist Jonathan Porritt comparing the British government's attitude to climate change to the Canute legend.

[3][21] Donwood said: "There was something about this immense torrent washing everything away and the futile figure holding back the wave (or failing to) that worked with the record, especially as we had both seen the flood, just when Thom was starting on the music.

[35] He contacted Godrich with the idea of forming a band to perform The Eraser, reproducing the electronic beats with Latin percussion.

[38] In NME, Louis Patterson praised Yorke's vocals and wrote: "Some will mourn its lack of viscera; its coldness; its reluctance to rock.

It's intensely beautiful, yet it explores the kind of emotional turmoil that makes the angst of [Radiohead albums] sound like kid stuff.

"[45] David Fricke said "the most striking thing about The Eraser is the high, clear sound of Yorke's voice, virtually free of the milky reverb he favours on Radiohead records".

"[49] The Los Angeles Times critic Ann Powers found that "like all of Yorke's best work, [The Eraser] finds its strength in the spaces where words and music dissolve, only to form something new".

[3] In The Guardian, Alexis Petridis wrote that The Eraser "offers a plethora of low-key delights", but "you can't help imagining what it might have sounded like if Yorke had turned it over to Radiohead".

[42] The Village Voice praised Yorke's vocals, but found that "without the hooks of his inspirations or [Radiohead's] density, the results offer pleasantries where they could provoke profound unpleasantries".