Album Review: The Smile, Wall Of Eyes

The creative heart of Radiohead, Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, reconvene with former Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner for a second LP. Produced and mixed by Sam Petts-Davies, who worked with Yorke on the Suspiria soundtrack, these eight tracks also feature string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra and saxophone from frequent collaborator Robert Stillman.

It opens with the swing and sway of the title track, an acoustic-led affair that calls to mind Radiohead’s ‘House Of Cards’, over which Yorke croons invitingly, the lyrics seemingly a familiar nod to the all-pervading invasiveness of technology on our lives. ‘Teleharmonic’ rides in on a slow wave of jazz-inflected synths, Yorke’s falsetto wondering, “Will I make the morning? I don’t know”.

‘Read The Room’ is wonderful, veering from dreamlike musing to abrasive indie-rock and back again, at once haunting and immediate, reticent and strident. This is Yorke and Greenwood at their best, with Skinner’s understated but effective time-keeping ensuring everything stays on-track.

‘Under Our Pillows’ begins with a strident math-rock guitar motif, before ending amid a dreamy alien soundscape, while the piano-driven ‘Friend Of A Friend’ treads a minor-chord pathway that will be familiar to longtime Radiohead fans. Both it and the title-track, incidentally, feature music videos from renowned American film-maker Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, There Will Be Blood), who worked with Yorke on a short film for his Anima album in 2019.

You think you have ‘Bending Hectic’ pegged as a mid-paced combo of quietly ululating guitars and slow jazz rhythms, Yorke sounding as forthright as he has in years, as he intones, “No-one’s gonna bring me down, no way and no how”. Then, after five-and-a-half minutes, it turns on its head, a cacophonic string break morphing into a heavy prog-rock wig-out that Yes would be proud of, before the album ends with the tender, string-drenched dreamscape of ‘You Know Me’.

A not-too-difficult second album.

8/10