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

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

After 10 years we have decided that from the end of our scheduled 2022 shows we will be closing this chapter of the band’s life for the foreseeable future. We’re excited to play our remaining gigs for you and to make this summer a fitting send off pic.twitter.com/3OceZqj1jz

— Sons Of Kemet (@SonsOfKemet) June 1, 2022

While this may come as a disappointment to fans, the wording of the statement may not actually imply the abrupt ending that we’re all worried about. If we take the group for what it is they are – a jazz quartet – then we can find some solace in a certain amount of transformation. Because (and I don’t mean to get all existential on this) isn’t this what jazz is actually about? Yes, it’s about a shared ambition and direction, but what’s jazz without change? Or surprises? While Shabaka Hutchings could probably be taken as the leader of the band – if we even need to throw around labels like this – the dub and hip-hop influences cover such a broad range of influences that a lot of willing musicians are probably on the horizon. Again, just speculation, but when was the last time you saw a jazz band without a special guest for the evening?

But that being said these are confirmed to be the final shows for a while. There are a handful of European festival dates, a brief trip to the states, and a night in Peckham on June 2^nd at GALA 2022. You can try and bag any remaining tickets to any of the dates here.

If all you’re actually after is a bit of Tom Skinner’s drumming chops, then you’re in luck! As you’re probably aware he joined forces with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead and created The Smile. The group are currently on tour and has just completed their sold-out stint of UK shows (except for one tonight, but it’s a bit late to make any plans really), debuting tons of new music on the way, so check here for any remaining tickets to any other European festival dates and you can get your fix of one of the best Radiohead side-projects to date (yeah).

While many online performance shows have gained a lot of traction in the last few years; everyone’s seen at least one episode of NPR’s Tiny Desk Series, COLORSxSTUDIO’s unique aesthetic took socials by storm, triple j’s Like a Version consistently goes viral with its genuinely great (Denzel Curry’s take on ‘Bulls on Parade’ sticks out to me) and wackier (it’d be rude not to mention The Wiggles cover of Elephant…) covers. But From the Basement strips back the gimmicks and charges straight in with the music. No audience, no time wasting… just get in there and show us what you’ve got. That’s what makes this show special; the music.

In a statement, Godrich commented on the return of the basement, “What a pleasure it has been doing this again!” adding, “I’m still just a fan, still super excited to have the opportunity to film all these great artists and have loved making these new shows. After being so busy doing other things I felt that the time was right to rekindle this idea… to somehow bring it into the present, but the same rules apply now as they did then… no audience or presenter… just a direct connection with the viewer and a chance for us to take some time to do something special in a controlled environment… the priority being to make it sound and look great….”

The series comes in association with Sonos Radio and We Transfer, while the streams will all be available online for free here, We Transfer will offer an additional song for each artist with a subscription to the site. Sonos Radio will also be broadcasting complete sets, both new and old, for the foreseeable future.

WeTransfer has partnered with @nigelgod‘s From The Basement and Sonos Radio to bring you six new performances from some of the world’s most extraordinary artists and bands. First episode premieres June 1. See you there. pic.twitter.com/WjS3tZhgaY

— WeTransfer (@WeTransfer) May 25, 2022

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 group consists of the two Radiohead musicians as well as Tom Skinner – known as the drummer for British jazz group Sons of Kemet. Having made their first performance at the Live at Worthy Farm live stream last year, the band have been keeping their momentum going with the release of four new singles and further performances in London earlier this year.

And now we’re almost at the stage of having a whole album from the trio. Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood recently appeared on the Smartless podcast, hosted by American actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes. Thom Yorke said that their new album was “pretty much done“, and went into detail on the writing process behind the LP.

Yorke said that “Jonny had come with a bunch of ideas, and I hadn’t seen him for a while, so they all just came pouring out before I could go, ‘Wait, wait, wait.’ ….There was a lot of me retrospectively going, ‘Okay, what am I going to do with that?’ Which was really nice.”

Their latest single “Pana-vision“ was released a couple of weeks back (you can read about this here) and was preceded by “Skrting on the Surface“ last month, as well as “The Smoke“  and “You Will Never Work in Television Again“ back in January.

They’ve also been getting involved in some television work, with “Pana-vision“ being included on the Peaky Blinders soundtrack, more on which you can find here. Thom Yorke has even contributed some solo songs to the show, namely “5.17“ and “That’s How Horses Are“.

Thom Yorke was also seen last week playing a solo acoustic set in Switzerland, playing some Radiohead songs like “Exit Music (For a Film)“ and “Bodysnatchers“. You can see some of this performance below.

The Smile is also set for some tour dates around Europe and the UK over May till July, tickets for which can be found here. The UK tour dates can be seen below. If you want to pre-order the new Peaky Blinders soundtrack featuring some of their material, then you can look here.

The Smile UK Tour Dates
29/05/2022 – Roundhouse – London
30/05 – Roundhouse – London
01/06 –  Usher Hall – Edinburgh
02/06 – Albert Hall – Manchester

“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.

The song was announced via the group’s socials with a brief announcement explaining the albums current situation, “The album is just about finished” great news, “we’re at the track-listing stage, where there are 6227020800 possible song orders. Until that’s decided – here’s one song: it’s called ‘You Will Never Work In Television Again.’”

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Produced by longtime Radiohead associate Nigel Godrich, the single shares a lot of vibes and ideas as Radiohead’s past releases. But this time, the addition of a little neo-jazz flair from Tom Skinner, and the stripped-back nature of working as a 3-piece, takes Yorke, Greenwood and Godrich’s well-loved sound into an almost post-punk-y direction. Splashy drums, frustrated barking from Yorke, and guitars drenched in enough reverb you could almost mistake the instrumental for a Protomartyr song, these things add up to something (again) pretty fresh.

While we have finally heard a studio recording of the band’s music, the air of mystery still lingers as the announcement of a tour seems to raise more questions than it answers. “We are also excited to announce a launch concert in London – actually 3 different concerts in 15 hours across 29th & 30th January, streamed fully live across 3 time zones, so people outside the UK can see us play at sensible times. 3 shows, 3 time zones, and 3 very sleepy musicians on Sunday morning.” Taking place at 8pm on January 28^th, the first show almost immediately leads into the 2^nd that will kick off 5 hours later at 1am the next morning. The 3^rd and final show will then allow the trio to rest for a short while before beginning again at 11am that same day. All 3 shows will take place at London’s Magazine in the round.

Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday (December 7^th). You can access tickets to the physical show here, and livestream tickets here.

Aside from these 3 moments, we don’t actually know much about the project, when it’s due, or if any of this music will even feature on an album. We heard rumblings in September that all the music had been recorded, but as Greenwood explained to NME, “We’re thinking of how much to include, whether it’s really finished or if there are a few guitars that need fixing. I’d hope it’ll come out soon, but I’m the wrong person to ask.”. So, who knows?

On the topic of unknown details, when posed with the question of touring with the Smile, Greenwood stated (in true ambiguous fashion), “No idea. It’s undiscussed and undecided. But it feels like we now have to start engaging with the outside world, having worked on this stuff alone. That’s the test, when people finally hear it. I’m looking forward to that, as what the outside world makes of you is more than half the reason for doing it.” Adding, “I’ve never understood the idea of music for its own sake. I remember bands I like who brought out albums I thought were disappointing. The fear of that is a big one. I’ve not met anyone who claims they don’t think about that stuff.”. That sounds like a positive to me.

Until any more information is released the next best thing for anyone with a hankering for some new Greenwood music need look no further than the new Kid A Mnesia box set released back in November. Or even his work on the soundtrack for “Spencer”, a biopic focussing on Princess Diana during the end of her relationship with Prince Charles.

For something artsier, check out the “KID A MNESIA EXHIBITION” on PS5, PC, or Mac. See details below.

The KID A MNESIA EXHIBITION is open…entry is free: https://t.co/sMZGAZX2Jl – PS5, PC & Mac pic.twitter.com/5rWJL6437N

— Radiohead (@radiohead) November 18, 2021

The music video for ‘Hustle’ is striking, centred around two dancers, one dressed in black and the other in white, embroiled in a struggle against one other. Describing the highly symbolic nature of the video in a press release, Shabaka Hutchings, the leader of the London-based jazz collective, said, “The dancers represent the duality present within any struggle to transcend internal limitations. As the video progresses, we see that it’s only once the differing elements of the self are reconciled and act in unison that rebirth (symbolised by the immersion in water) can occur.” This act of “rebirth” is similarly confirmed by both dancers being dressed in white by the end of the video.

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A post shared by Sons Of Kemet (@sonsofkemet)

The song itself is driven by a bold tuba-led bassline, over which scattering saxophone and clarinet riffs accompany afrobeat-inspired drum patterns. Notably, the track’s instrumentation is more pared back than the free-flowing jazz arrangements of their 2018 album ‘Your Queen Is a Reptile’, probably to ensure that Kojey Radical’s powerful lyrics are heard.

In a moment that captures the spirit of the song, Kojey poetically raps, “These peace signs are just a piece of the puzzle/ Spit to the muzzle, silence the lambs/ Kiss and they cuddle, forget that they cut you/ It’s just part of the hustle.” The track also features soothing background vocals from Lianne La Havas, whose husky vocal tone perfectly complements Kojey’s forceful delivery.

Whilst discussing the group’s forthcoming LP in a press statement, Hutchings explained, “‘Black To The Future’ is a sonic poem for the invocation of power, remembrance and healing. It depicts a movement to redefine and reaffirm what it means to strive for black power. The meaning is not universal and the cultural context of the listener will shape their understanding. Yet in the end, the overarching message remains the same: For humanity to progress we must consider what it means to be ‘Black To The Future’.”

Hutchings is clearly very mindful of the Afrofuturist aesthetic that the group is cultivating through their music, especially with a name like ‘Black To The Future’ for their newest record. Aptly, the features on the album all come from black artists, including appearances from Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid, D Double E, Joshua Idehen, and, of course, Kojey Radical.

Interestingly, the album will be the first time that the group have really given their fans a collection of collaborative tracks. Since ‘Black To The Future’ strives to “depict a movement to redefine and reaffirm what it means to strive for black power”, perhaps it was imperative that an array of black voices were heard on the project.

Check out the music video for ‘Hustle’ below: