The Smile Album Reviews

There hasn’t been a new Radiohead album since 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool. The Smile might be the next best thing. The two most distinctive members of Radiohead – vocalist Thom Yorke and guitarist Johnny Greenwood – formed The Smile in 2018. The trio’s third member is Tom Skinner, drummer for London jazz band Sons of Kemet.

With progress interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it took until 2022 for their first album to emerge. But they’ve been prolific ever since – in an interview after their first album, Greenwood stated “I’m the most impatient of everybody in Radiohead. I’ve always said I’d much rather the records were 90 per cent as good, but come out twice as often, or whatever the maths works out on that. I’ve always felt that, the closer to the finish, the smaller the changes are that anyone would notice.”

With the liberty of not releasing music as Radiohead, Yorke and Greenwood are free to make looser and more relaxed music. Sometimes they’re reminiscent of Pink Floyd‘s dabbling in progressive rock or Can‘s groove-based krautrock. None of their albums to date measure up to Radiohead’s best, but they’re worth your time.

The Smile Album Reviews

A Light For Attracting Attention

2022, 7.5/10
The Smile formed in 2018, but their first album didn’t emerge until 2022. Some of the material is clearly from Radiohead – ‘Skrting on the Surface’ was in Radiohead’s live set a decade ago, but is appearing on record for the first time. Many of the songs originated from Greenwood working on riffs due to pandemic boredom.

Despite the different name and the smaller lineup, The Smile feels like a continuation of late-period Radiohead. Textures like the atmospheric guitars of the opening ‘The Same’ and the moody piano of ‘Open The Floodgates’ are straight from the Radiohead playbook, even if Skinner’s jazzy drumming provides a point of difference. The tough post-punk sound of ‘You Will Never Work In Television Again’ is welcome, while ‘Speech Bubbles’ is gorgeous.

I’m not convinced that an essential album has emerged from Radiohead’s orbit since 2007’s In Rainbows, but The Smile’s debut is still worthwhile.

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Wall of Eyes

2024, 7.5/10
Smile’s debut album was good, but not great. I had high hopes for their follow-up based on the lead single ‘Bending Hectic’. It’s the best thing from the Radiohead camp in years, with its thrilling guitar lines and rousing crescendo. It’s about a car crash, providing a link to ‘Air Bag’ on OK Computer, Radiohead’s most beloved work.

But the remainder of the record is Inconsistent. The energetic songs like ‘Read the Room’ and ‘Under Our Pillows’, with off-kilter rhythms and traces of math rock, are strong They often delve into textural material, which works on the gorgeous ‘Teleharmonic’.

With Radiohead’s fabulous track record, I’m probably expecting a little much from Wall of Eyes. It certainly has terrific moments.

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Cutouts

2024, 7/10
The Smile’s second album of 2024 was recorded in the same sessions as Wall of Eyes. Yorke stated that the songs were split into two albums to do them justice and avoid burnout. He also said that it’s not an album of outtakes.

Cutouts is more relaxed than The Smile’s previous work, a change for the better. ‘The Slip’ feels comfortable in its low-key groove with a keening Yorke vocal. ‘Zero Sum’ is also groove-based, recalling Can’s krautrock. There are pretty, sophisticated arrangements on ‘Instant Psalm’ and ‘Tiptoe’, with the trio utilising the London Contemporary Orchestra.

But ‘Foreign Spies’ feels oddly placed as an opener. It gives the appearance that the record is more restrained than it actually is.

Unfavourable comparisons to Radiohead’s simultaneously recorded pair of albums from the early 21st century, Kid A and Amnesiac, are difficult to avoid. But Smile is a graceful middle-age for Yorke and Greenwood, even if the results aren’t quite as vibrant.

Best Songs by The Smile

Bending Heretic
Tiptoe
The Same
Instant Psalm
Read the Room
You Will Never Work in Television Again
Zero Sum
Teleharmonic