The Smoke finds Yorke playing dubby, hip-swivelling bass – traceable, perhaps, to the influence of Red Hot Chili Pepper Flea and his sinuous work in that other great Radiohead spin-off, Atoms for Peace. But the Smile are most musically convincing when they stretch farther away from Radiohead. Most of those present (or tuning in online) will probably be thrilled at this not wildly novel iteration of the Yorke/Greenwood partnership. Just Eyes and Mouth is practically Afrobeat, Greenwood’s guitar and Skinner’s kit doing genuinely new things. The hectic clatter of Thin Thing is a revelation, with all three instrumentalists going hell for leather. While not strictly playing jazz, he scrapes bells along his hi-hats, lifting the trio with his dynamism. Obviously there’s the magnificent Skinner too, whose default time signature is trigonometric. As the gig unfolds, there’s a sense that the Smile have been tuning in to much older electronic music, with resonant analogue synths providing clear division between the bands – like the insistent oscillations of The Same. But the keening and spacious percussion that closes the track is a beautiful departure. Photograph: Wunmi Onibudoįree in the Knowledge starts off very Radiohead. Ready for lift off… the Smile at Magazine. (The downside is that the track sounds like three different songs being played simultaneously.) Greenwood, who usually plays no part in Yorke’s side hustles, is in full swing in the Smile, fringe flopping, bowing his bass on Free in the Knowledge, hitting effects pedals with stockinged feet and playing keyboards with one hand as he attacks the harp with another on Speech Bubbles. But the Smile is chock-a-block with guitars – electric and acoustic – with live drumming, and harp for good measure. It has been easy to interpret his extracurricular activity as the restless singer exploring electronic sounds that other members of Radiohead did not wish to. Exactly how is this not a Radiohead gig? Because Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway are not here? So many of Yorke’s non-Radiohead projects have privileged digitals over instrumentation. The vast bulk of these songs are intense, layered and feature Yorke’s vocals and Greenwood on guitar. It climaxes as something akin to 60s systems music, one of the key features of the set.Īs these songs spool out, it seems the Smile’s rawness has proved ephemeral. There is also Open the Floodgates, previously a solo Yorke tune, now warmed by the glow of Greenwood’s guitar notes and analogue blooping from the multi-talented Skinner, who frequently leaves the kit during this gig to man an electronic workstation. Yorke’s wracked croon takes centre stage and Greenwood’s effect-laden instrumentation now provides a trebly counterpoint. As last spring, they play an unreleased song, previously thought to be by Radiohead – Skirting on the Surface. This morning, the clear blue water between the bands is less clear and less blue. Just Eyes and Mouth is practically Afrobeat, Greenwood’s guitar and Skinner’s kit doing genuinely new things In May, when the Smile debuted online at Glastonbury, they were hailed as a raw, almost post-punk outfit, in sharp contrast with Radiohead’s more rococo output. The songs that make up the Smile’s 15-song set list come under this new alias, but Yorke and Greenwood’s preoccupations and aesthetics are ongoing. ![]() ![]() But there’s confusion too: last May, Yorke declared the Smile to be named after a particularly intense Ted Hughes poem. Even if it can sound too much like a Radiohead album (“Thin Thing” and closer “Skirting on the Surface” feel somewhat like In Rainbows outtakes), A Light for Attracting Attention is nonetheless a gorgeous, pristine collection of tunes further cementing Yorke’s legacy as one of our generation’s artistic giants.The opening invocation is by William Blake, that great observer of humanity’s double nature. Across 53 minutes, we basically hear the full range of musical hats Yorke is capable of wearing: driving, garage rock-y post-punk (“You Will Never Work in Television Again”), stirring acoustic ballads (“Free in the Knowledge”), piano dirges (“Open the Floodgates”), funk (“The Smoke”), minimalist electronic music (“The Same,” “Waving a White Flag”) and even Afrobeat (“The Opposite”). His new project the Smile, alongside fellow Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner (with Nigel Godrich at the helm), shows he can also make a brilliant LP with a whole new band - one that stands out as an exuberant, masterfully constructed art rock album. Thom Yorke’s ability to create stellar bodies of work decades into his career is nothing short of remarkable. The Smile, A Light for Attracting Attention (XL)
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