The Smile, a rock band consisting of key Radiohead architects Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, as well as jazz troupe Sons of Kemet’s drummer Tom Skinner, has been making waves with their second album ‘Wall of Eyes’. The band was originally formed as a side-project to Radiohead, but now feels paramount to Yorke and Greenwood’s musical identity. After eight years since their last record, with each member dabbling in solo projects, film scores, and remixes, The Smile is back to roaring success.
The Smile will be headlining festivals and arenas this summer and has even worked with Paul Thomas Anderson on a new string of music videos. After years of working on individual projects, you have to wonder if the band enjoys this break from the “day-job’s” history and baggage.
On their latest album, ‘Wall of Eyes’, The Smile continues to deliver with their skittish marriage between wonky electronics and the occasional rock rager. The album is similarly expansive in its vision, but also restrained. Its opening title track packs a punch similar to Radiohead’s 2003 single ‘There, There’ but instead opts for lush orchestration as opposed to the latter’s crackling ending. ‘Friend of a Friend’ is light on its feet and surprisingly intimate.
The trio’s strongest composition yet, ‘Bending Heretic’, embodies this new mindset: They leave space for each other, but, they’re not afraid to step into it. The song begins with Greenwood’s exploratory guitar riff, which nudges the track forward despite its spangly form, while Yorke paints a vivid picture of a “’60s soft-top” inching through the “Italian mountainside”. The song meets impending doom, and at the five-minute mark, a graceful farewell gives way to sheer panic as taut Psycho-esque strings swell and eventually crash at the moment of impact. Yorke warns, “The ground is coming for me now”, but blame is shared with “We’ve gone over the edge / If you’ve got something to say, say it now”.
With the breadth of the material on offer here, it can be confidently said that ‘Wall of Eyes’ could flip the dynamic on its head and make comparisons to their Radiohead catalogue pale in comparison. ‘Wall of Eyes’ is set to release on January 26, 2023, and is being released under the XL Record Label
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