The Smile is a super group made up of Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and the band’s multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood alongside former Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. The band released their last album, A Light For Attracting Attention, in 2021 after working on the album across COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020.

The new album Wall Of Eyes, 26th January 2024.

The title track, Wall Of Eyes is out today and is accompanied by a video from film director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Pre-order the Wall Of Eyes album: https://t.co/wUccoMhTjO pic.twitter.com/3vX4y8Unul

— The Smile (@thesmiletheband) November 13, 2023

The band have already released the music video for the lead single and title track, “Wall of Eyes”. The video was directed by director Paul Thomas Anderson, famous for movies such There Will Be Blood and Licorice Pizza. Jonny Greenwood has previously worked with Paul Thomas Anderson, composing music for There Will Be Blood and Thom Yorke has worked with the director for the short film, Anima, which used music from Thom Yorke’s solo album of the same name. The new album also includes the track ‘Bending Hectic’, which the band had already released in a studio version form earlier in the year after debuting the song at Montreux Jazz Festival last year.

Jonny Greenwood has spoken about the possibility of a new album from The Smile earlier this year, as he said: “The frustration of having not had access to playing in a band for a couple of years [has] just built up a big backlog of ideas, we’re still firing off each other, and it feels productive. So, while that’s happening, we just wanna keep moving forward, I think.” The new album was recorded in Oxford and at Abbey Road Studios. The album is produced by Sam Petts-Davis, who produced Thom Yorke’s Susperia soundtrack in 2018. The London Contemporary Orchestra also appear on the album for string arrangements, which can be heard on the lead single.

The Smile will be on tour in the UK and Europe during March 2024.

Tickets for these tour dates go on general sale at 9am GMT Friday 17th November. Sign up here today for access to the presale: https://t.co/F3ErW6TLkx pic.twitter.com/8TXgaR4hMQ

— The Smile (@thesmiletheband) November 13, 2023

Alongside the album, the band has also announced a tour of the United Kingdom and Europe, a couple of months after the release of the album. The tour starts on March 7^th in Dublin’s 3Arena, before heading to Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam. The band then heads into the United Kingdom for a show at the Brighton Centre on March 18^th, and then heading to Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and finally finishing the tour at London’s Alexandra Palace on March 23^rd.

Tickets for the tour go on general sale this Friday (November 17th) and can be found here. Presale access tickets can be found here.

Wall Of Eyes Tracklist:

1. ‘Wall Of Eyes’
2. ‘Teleharmonic’
3. ‘Read The Room’
4. ‘Under Our Pillows’
5. ‘Friend Of A Friend’
6. ‘I Quit’
7. ‘Bending Hectic’
8. ‘You Know Me!’

Tour dates:

07/03/2024 – 3Arena – Dublin, Republic of Ireland
13/03 – K.B. Hallen – Copenhagen, Denmark
15/03 – Forest National – Brussels, Belgium
16/03 – AFAS Live – Amsterdam, Netherlands
18/03 – Brighton Centre – Brighton, United Kingdom
19/03 – 02 Apollo – Manchester, United Kingdom
20/03 – SEC Armadillo – Glasgow, United Kingdom
22/03 – 02 Academy – Birmingham, United Kingdom
23/03 – Alexandra Palace – London, United Kingdom

Shrouded in the mystery that’s become characteristic of the band since their formation in 1985, O’Brien’s response offers little in the way of excitement for super-fans awaiting new music. However, he does offer some certainty regarding the current state of affairs, saying “There’s no Radiohead at the moment. There’s a truth to what we do, so we’re not going to be one of those bands that gets together for the big payday.”

The last Radiohead LP came back in 2016 with A Moon Shaped Pool, and was met with widespread acclaim and praise from critics worldwide. Being nominated for two Grammy Awards and the groups fifth Mercury Prize, it became not only their sixth number 1 album in the UK, but across much of the world too, claiming the top spot in Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, and Sweden. You can check out A Moon Shaped Pool’s lead single “Burn The Witch” below.

Commenting on the band’s ethos surrounding the creation of their music, O’Brien went on to comment “The thing with Radiohead, we could do something in a couple years. We might not. But I think what it has to be, it has to be five people going, ‘I really want to do this again with you.’ And I think at the moment, because we’ve done it for so long, we’re all reaching out and having different experiences. And that should be allowed, and that should be encouraged”. 

The band have of course splintered into various side projects over the last decade, with every member embarking on a solo career at one point or another. Their most notable detour of recent years being Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke’s band The Smile, whom released their debut album A Light For Attracting Attention earlier this year to great critical approval.

Despite this, one shouldn’t lose hope. Radiohead have certainly not announced a split, and from the sounds of Ed’s conversation with The Line-Up, things are looking quite positive. “We’re an ongoing band and have online meetings – there was a Zoom call recently,” he said at the time. “We’re talking about stuff, but for the foreseeable future everyone is doing their own thing. When it feels right to plug back into Radiohead, then we will.” Godspeed Ed.

You can catch his whole conversation with Shaun Keaveny on The Line-Up podcast here.

Coming tomorrow, 2pm BST.https://t.co/EenDATd51l pic.twitter.com/Ay9ocdlUTi

— The Smile (@thesmiletheband) July 19, 2022

Back in February director, Anthony Bryne told NME, “Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood contributed some original stuff. I’m over the moon about all of that. The music has always been really important historically, and I was keen to bring a dramatic score into it. We’re using that much more in this season. It’s a much heavier season so the score is taking things in a very different direction.”

Talking about the music for the show, Murphy said, “You just know when a song is ‘Peaky’. The artists are outsiders. They have resisted the tyranny of the mainstream, shall we say?” Yorke and Greenwood have spent a career running from the mainstream success of the Radiohead song “Creep” and despite playing stadium shows the world over would happily wear the title of outsiders.

The Smile came into fruition over lockdown from Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood’s desire to make music together, and they soon were playing Glastonbury’s Live at Worthy Farm in 2021 with Son’s of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. The band’s debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention, was released via digital formats on 13th May 2022 and given a physical release on 17^th June 2022 via XL Recordings. The track was produced by long-time Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. Godrich first worked with Yorke and Greenwood on Radiohead’s second album The Bends as an engineer and then becoming co-producer on Ok Computer.

A Light for Attracting Attention received universal acclaim receiving 86 out of 100 on Metacritic and Ryan Dombal of Pitchfork saying that the album is, “unmistakably the best album yet by a Radiohead side project.”

Since their appearance at Worthy Farm, “Pana-Vision” is the fourth single to be released from the band and is the fourth track to be taken from A Light for Attracting Attention. Tyler Golsen of Far Out magazine gave the song 7.2 out of 10 saying, “The new track is the most nebulous track that The Smile have officially released so far.” The song is a definite shift in tone from the opening three tracks and showcases Greenwood’s film composer alter ego.

“Pana-vision” originally appeared on April 3 2022 with an animated video directed by Sabrina Nichols, using imagery by Yorke and Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood.

Thr Smile’s only UK show will be at London’s All Points East, tickets available here.

28/08/2020 – All Points East – London

A statement on the festival’s website provides a description of the group, “Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are back in Montreux, close to 20 years after the Radiohead concert at the Festival! Completed by Tom Skinner (the brilliant drummer of Sons of Kemet), the mysterious trio has been making itself known little by little for the past year.”

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The band’s appearance at the festival was part of their ongoing European tour in support of their debut album A Light For Attracting Attention. The supergroup’s album was released on 13th May 2022 via XL Recordings and was produced by Nigel Godirch, Radiohead’s long-term producer and collaborator. The album sired six singles, “You Will Never Work In Television Again”, “The Smoke”, “Skirting On The Surface”, “Pana-vision”, “Free In The Knowledge” and “Thin Thing”.

Whilst on their current tour the band have premiered three new songs, “Funeral Of A Friend”, “Colours Fly” and “Bodies Laughing” which was debuted during a show in Berlin last month. A fourth unreleased track was premiered at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the band debuted the grunge rock-inspired track “Bending Hectic” during the set’s encore. The track was so freshly written that Yorke still had the notes by his side, the singer said to the crowd, “I can see the words – that’s good, Cause I just wrote them about half an hour ago. So follow us down the train crash.”

This year marked the Montreux Jazz Festival’s 56th year in action, starting on 1st July 2022 the event consists of over 500 concerts held across 13 stages. The festival concludes on 16th July 2022 with a star-studded line-up, scheduled to play the Auditorium Stravinski are Herbie Hancock and Jamie Cullum. Also set to close the festival are Arlo Parks, Patrick Watson and Phoebe Bridges, all three acts will play Montreux Jazz Lab.

All tickets for our North American Tour are now on sale, including LA & Denver.

Get your tickets here: https://t.co/u9x7d8yMFY pic.twitter.com/VjG5QFzVEh

— The Smile (@thesmiletheband) June 24, 2022

The Smile are next scheduled to appear at the Italian city Macerata with a set at Arena Sferisterio on 17th July 2022. After two more stops on their European tour, the band will return to the UK to perform at this year’s All Points East Festival on 28th August 2022. The band have also announced their first North American tour, the tour is set to take place this Winter and will be in support of their recently released album.

The live performance above sees the trio revealing a somewhat ballad-esque new tune that they allegedly wrote that very same day. The tune sees Yorke inhabiting the higher parts of his vocal range as Greenwood lays down mellow, sombre piano chords tied together by Skinner’s expressive yet robotically tight jazz-styled drumming.

The Smile has a busy summer ahead as far as their touring schedule goes, with the band performing all over Europe for the next two months, stopping in Sweden, Norway, France, Belgium and Germany, just to name a few places. The group will also be playing the second weekend of Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain. Their full touring schedule can be viewed on the flyer below, and you can view more information regarding Primavera Sound here.

Formed in 2021 by Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood alongside Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, the trio has (expectedly) made waves in recent months after releasing a slew of singles ahead of their debut full-length album A Light for Attracting Attention, which was released just a few days ago on May 13^th. The band’s debut live appearance occurred last summer at Glastonbury’s “Live At Worthy Farm” livestream, at which point all of the group’s material was unreleased, previously unheard and somewhat shrouded in mystery.

The new record has been received well by both fans and critics, with Pitchfork introducing their review by calling it “unmistakably the best album yet by a Radiohead side project”, which is quite the compliment given the volume of music that the members of Radiohead have been putting out over the years. Given the band’s personnel, they have not quite been able to escape the inevitable suggestions that A Light for Attracting Attention could be considered a new Radiohead album in a different garb, however it’s very clear that this is no bad thing at all.

Put simply, the album is a display of unfettered creativity from the minds of Yorke, Greenwood and Skinner, allowing them to step away from the pressure of making “the next great thing” in rock music and focusing on just creating music. You can check out A Light for Attracting Attention on all streaming services, and you can listen to the lead single “You Will Never Work in Television Again” below.

The inclusion of Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, and a stripped back 3-piece approach have birthed something brand new: The Smile. Free from the burden of having to progress all of recorded music every few years, free from the legions of angry fans that hate The King Of Limbs because it doesn’t sound enough like Aphex Twin to warrant an IDM association… they can just make an album. Now, after a few months of odd singles and quirky live shows, and the promise of an album on the horizon, it has a release date. A Light For Attracting Attention is set to drop on May 13^th, you can pre-order here. You may also want to hear the album’s 5^th single “Free In The Knowledge” below.

Jonny took to the band’s mailing list to announce the project yesterday. Explaining the confusing wait, he said, “But really, the record still feels worth your time – both the time spent waiting, and the time we’re asking you to invest in hearing it – which is all I can hope for. I’m listening to it constantly, long after I should have had enough, so maybe that’s the right, long-sighted view of this. I hope you have the same experience.”.

Now we have the tracklist, we can take a moment to see what we already know about the album. For anyone who was lucky enough to bag a ticket to the Greenwich shows back in January (like me), you have already heard the whole album – as well as another song that didn’t quite make the cut “Just Eyes And Mouth”, and a cover of Joe Jackson’s “It’s Different For Girls” that also wasn’t album quality apparently.

It was also revealed that the London Contemporary Orchestra plus a full brass section of contemporary UK jazz players, including Byron Wallen, Theon and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman, and Jason Yarde, make an appearance in some degree. May 13^th will reveal all.

The melancholy tune is the fourth single that the band has released, with the first being the headshaking, lyrically scathing “You Will Never Work in Television Again”, followed by “The Smoke” and “Skrting on the Surface”. Although presently unconfirmed, the sequential release of these new songs perhaps hints at an announcement of a debut album (or E.P.) from The Smile not being too far away. The band’s last single “Skrting on the Surface” is, unlike the first two releases, a re-working of an unreleased Radiohead song from 2009.

Led by an ever-so-slightly sinister piano ostinato and Yorke’s distinctive falsetto, “Pana-vision” debuted on Sunday (3^rd of April)’s episode of acclaimed British crime drama Peaky Blinders, entitled Lock and Key.

In other news, Thom Yorke has released two songs recently entitled “5.17” and “That’s How Horses Are”. “5.17” was dropped without any prior announcement last month, and “That’s How Horses Are” was released yesterday. The two songs are part of Yorke’s contribution to the soundtrack of the sixth season of Peaky Blinders, alongside some of The Smile’s new material.

Peaky Blinders director Anthony Byrne said in an interview with NME: “Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood contributed some original stuff…“I’m over the moon about all of that. The music has always been really important historically, and I was really keen to bring a dramatic score into it. We’re using that much more in this season. It’s a much heavier season so the score is taking things in a very different direction…It’s always about Tommy and his headspace. That’s what I keep going back to.”

Last month, it was announced that a triple LP Peaky Blinders soundtrack will be released on May 27^th. The soundtrack spans 49 tracks, including contributions from a vast roster of fantastic artists who have had their music featured on the soundtrack, such as Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Jack White, IDLES, David Bowie and Joy Division. You can pre-order the upcoming release here.

“Skrting On The Surface” may have been shown before, during the trio of gigs the band played at the end of January, but die-hard Radiohead fans might have clocked that this is, in fact, a reworking of an unreleased Radiohead track from 2009. Aside from the distinct time signature change, from 4/4 to 15/16, the song follows a borderline standard song structure. The joy of it comes from the underlying Radiohead influence, without the overwhelming pressure of having to write “a Radiohead song”. Which of course will inevitably come with people wanting, and hoping, for the best new thing since sliced bread. The Smile seems to be acting as Yorke and Greenwood’s escape from the sheer size of Radiohead at the moment.

While there are still no confirmed details of an album insight, if you’re desperate for a physical release, you can join the free lottery to give yourself a chance to win a limited-edition joint A-side 7” vinyl pressing of the band’s 2 singles so far. A full list of participating record stores has been published by the band here, so if you get down there you can show some love for your local independent store, and maybe bag yourself some goodies. So far, the band have given fans 2 opportunities for free music, with this and the international raffle for tickets to their trio of shows depending on what country you are from. As we know, Yorke and co. in Radiohead are more than happy to push through an awkward release method, so could we be on the brink of one now? I’m saying yes… probably.

As I mentioned before, the UK dates of The Smile’s tour have long since sold out. But that means you’re now perfectly able to justify going abroad for a week or so to check out the festival circuit. With appearances in Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, and a bunch of others there’s no time like the present to give yourself a holiday. Check out the dates here.

Peaky Blinders has featured a great deal of well-loved music over the years; for example, Nick Cave’s classic track “Red Right Hand” serves as the show’s main theme song, and tunes from IDLES, David Bowie, PJ Harvey, Arctic Monkeys, Iggy Pop, Foals and Royal Blood have also been featured on the soundtrack over previous years.

According to NME, Byrne said: “Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood contributed some original stuff…“I’m over the moon about all of that. The music has always been really important historically, and I was really keen to bring a dramatic score into it. We’re using that much more in this season. It’s a much heavier season so the score is taking things in a very different direction…It’s always about Tommy and his headspace. That’s what I keep going back to.” Byrne has also revealed a few other details of the content of season six’s soundtrack, saying that Sinead O’Connor, Joy Division and Patti Smith will be making an appearance.

Composer Anna Calvi has returned once again to compose the score for the sixth season, and this time she has teamed up with Nick Launay, who frequently collaborates with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds as their producer.

In Yorke and Greenwood’s world, the two have recently established a new band with Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner called The Smile. The group recently released their first single entitled “You Will Never Work in Television Again”, and also debuted some new tracks at recent live performances, including three live shows at Magazine London on the 29^th and 30^th of January, which were performed to a small audience and also livestreamed. The single can be found on all streaming services.

In addition, Radiohead recently released a B-sides album entitled Kid A Mnesia, which compiled songs from the Kid A and Amnesiac era of the band that did not quite make the cut, and some alternate versions of songs, including a piano arrangement of “Spinning Plates” from Amnesiac, and an alternate version of the song “Morning Bell” also from Amnesiac. Kid A Mnesia can be found on all streaming services, and physical copies of the record can be found here.

We’re playing European dates in May, June & July. Tickets go on sale this Friday 4th February at 10am GMT. Subscribers to The Smile mailing list will have access to a pre-sale on Wednesday, Feb 2nd at 10am GMT. Sign up at https://t.co/CgAsAoRACQ pic.twitter.com/aTUuM8YI6l

— The Smile (@thesmiletheband) February 1, 2022

Beginning in Croatia in mid-May, the opening months of the tour see the group playing some decent-sized venues. Appearances in Austria, Germany, and Sweden all take place before the 4 announced UK shows – 2 at London’s Roundhouse, 1 at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, and 1 at Manchester’s Albert Hall; unfortunately for anyone in Wales or Ireland. The tour will also see the likes of Spain’s Primavera Sound Festival, Poland’s Open’er Festival, and Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival to mention a few. The final date will be one to look for if you get the opportunity through, the Teatro Antico di Taormina in Italy is an ancient Greek theatre dating back to the 3^rd century. The perfect backdrop for Yorke, Greenwood, and Skinner.  Wherever you may choose to see them, what we are still waiting on is album details. But with the various livestreams put out already… it’s not too hard to find the music anymore. Below, for example, see a Joe Jackson cover the band played at 2 of the 3 debut live shows.

If you’re unfortunate enough to not be able to attend any of these dates, here’s a brief rundown of some key moments from the debut shows I believe you should still be aware of. It’ll either spur you on to get to a show, spoil the experience for you so you don’t even have to go anymore or just sit there idle and we can all move on. Jonny Greenwood playing a harp and synthesizer at the same time, Greenwood also playing the bass guitar with a violin bow (very cool), a rather dramatic telling of William Blake’s ‘The Smile’ from none other than Cillian Murphy, an updated version of ‘lost’ Radiohead track ‘Skirting on the Surface’ that I’m pretty sure ended up being played in 15/16 for any of you nerds, and (of course) anything else Jonny Greenwood did. Absolutely worth a go if, of course, you have a choice.

See below the few UK dates for The Smile:

29/05/22 – Roundhouse – London – Roundhouse
30/05 – Roundhouse – London
01/06 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh
02/06 – Albert Hall – Manchester