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

He released the album’s first single “Check For Signs Of Life” in October 2022, alongside an enthralling one-take music video. A thrilling workpiece which encapsulates perfectly the whole essence of what the forthcoming album is meant to render. He, additionally, has just released a second single of the LP “Picking Up The Pieces” with its very own music video also, just as captivating and touching as the last, preparing us for the final album release on the 24th February.

Drawn up for the perfect release, on the run up to this date, Phillip began his tour around the UK on Monday, the 30th January in Norwich. He will be making his way through several different cities to finally wrap up in St Andrews, Scotland on the Sunday, 19th of February, days before the drop of his new sound.

The Radiohead member has allowed to reflect his past on Strange Dance and, embrace the fact that he has a certain age and wisdom to transmit through his music. In an interview with SPIN he says “There can be a temptation to mask the aging process in music or any kind of public-facing media. I think that can be a very limiting stance. You need to be confident in where you are.” Confirming a peace with where he stands, and his passion for dedicating time to writing songs as a solo artist.

Whilst Selway focused on his own path, other Radiohead members contributed to a newly formed band The Smile. A project which generated over lockdown, constituted by the members of the famous rock band, including Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, bass, keys), Johnny Greenwood (guitar, bass, keys) as well as the drummer Tom Skinner. They stand mysteriously, allowing the listeners slowly into their whirlwind of experimental, Post-Punk, Progressive Rock and Electronic music through unforeseen revelations.

They first dropped six singles in early 2022 and proceeded to finally releasing their entire debut album A Light For Attracting Attention in May last year, followed by an international tour. The band has now announced a new live record release EUROPE: LIVE RECORDINGS 2022. A vinyl only, limited edition EP, containing live recordings of the publics favourite tunes throughout their first ever tour last year, available to buy on the 10th of March across record shops. Inevitably, the band also announced their upcoming tour around the US, kicking off this June to run through until the end of July in 2023.

Click here to buy tickets to Philip Selway’s UK tour.
Click here to pre-order Philip Selway’s upcoming album Strange Dance.
Click here to pre-order The Smile’s upcoming vinyl EP.

Philip Selway UK tour dates:

30/01/2023 – Norwich Arts Centre – Norwich
31/01 – The Junction – Cambridge
01/02 – The Trades Club – Hebden Bridge
02/02 – The Georgian Theatre – Stockton-on-Tees
03/02 – The Boileroom – Guildford
16/02 – Eden Court – Inverness
17/02 – Mareel – Shetland
18/02 – Eastgate Theatre – Peebles
19/02 – The Byre Theatre – St. Andrews

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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A post shared by Montreux Jazz Festival (@montreuxjazzfestival)

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.

new one … work in progress … there are a few .. https://t.co/jPeNYiNVEz

— Thom Yorke (@thomyorke) July 10, 2022

The band played the Spanish music festival in Barcelona exactly a month before this tweet on June 10th, with Julian Casablancas from The Strokes taking to his social media to rave about their performance. Calling it the “best show i’ve seen in YEARS“, Casablancas posted a short video of The Smile, comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner, on his Instagram saying “had my mind blown, best show i’ve seen in YEARS ……The Smile – shiiiiiiit that was good. like phillip glass with miles chords with in rainbows Radiohead or something… idk. insane festival overall honestly …Tyler / Tame Impala etc so many other champions too … thank you thank you & thank you to all of it and all who came to the show“.

The Smile only just just released their debut album A Light For Attracting Attention back in May of this year on XL Recordings, so it’s somewhat surprising but exciting that they already have new music in the pipeline. Their debut peaked at No.5 on the UK Albums Chart and gained significant critical attention, with Pitchfork giving it a solid 8.6, and SPIN calling it their album of 2022, it certainly wasn’t a misstep from the kings of alternative rock.

The snippet of “Colours Fly” revealed from their performance at Primavera seems to put the song in a psychedelic desert rock kind of world, with Thom Yorke riffing over a bass guitar whilst singing “If you change your mind, I won’t be surprised, Let the colours fly“, it’s reminiscent of Angus Stone’s trippier work with side project Dope Lemon and seems to be in the band’s hypnotic sweet spot. The next time they will play live in the UK will be at All Points East Festival in London’s Victoria Park supporting Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ on Sunday the 28th of August. Aside from that they have no further UK shows booked, but a tour across Europe locked in for June and July and a tour across America booked in for November and December. Let’s hope for new music soon!

The trio, consisting of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood alongside Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, have now debuted not one, but two new songs on their current EU tour. Last week, the group performed a new song called “Friend of a Friend” in Croatia, a tune that they had written the same day they performed it. Now, the band has unveiled a new tune called “Bodies Laughing” during a show in Berlin. Footage has emerged on YouTube of the band performing the song, which you can see down below.

Much like “Friend of a Friend”, Yorke said that “Bodies Laughing” had been written the very same day that the group chose to perform it, saying: “So, yesterday we wrote another new song…So we’re gonna try and play it.”

As you can observe from the title of the YouTube footage, there seems to be some speculation that the song is an unheard Radiohead B-side from the archives of the band’s In Rainbows era. Listening to the tune’s mellow guitars, tight drums and Yorke’s soulful, reverberant crooning, it’s not hard to see why such an idea would be thrown around.

You can also listen to/watch live footage of “Friend of a Friend” down below.

In other recent news regarding The Smile, the band are currently (as you may have already gathered) on tour in Europe, and will be very busy performance-wise for the next few months. All information regarding their live appearances, including tickets, can be found here.

The group have also recently been added to the line-up for the forthcoming Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds headlining show at All Points East Festival in London, which will also include acts such as Japanese Breakfast, Sleaford Mods and Michael Kiwanuka. More information regarding All Points East can be found here.

Of course, I probably can’t conclude this article without pointing you towards The Smile’s riveting debut full-length album A Light for Attracting Attention, which was released two weeks ago to very warm reception indeed, from both fans and critics alike. You can listen to the album on all streaming services, and you can stream the hypnotic tune “Thin Thing” at the link below.

And you can bet the importance isn’t lost on the band’s members either. Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien posted a long message on Instagram, recounting the days when they were making the album and working their way towards becoming one of the most respected musical forces out there.

He described the time as feeling “like an age away.. 1997 belonged to a different era .. we were just kids.. with unswerving focus and drive”. There are also some special insights into the creative process behind the album, noting certain influences such as Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew (1970), The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (1966) and Portishead.

Also, if you’ve ever wondered how the album managed its distinctive sound, the answer may lie in geography. O’Brien notes some of the unusual places the band found to record in, such as “inside a vast metal box for storing apples … [or] the magical St Catherine’s Court owned by Jane Seymour“. So if you’re trying to record some music and can’t find yourself a proper studio, don’t bother – they’re overrated apparently.

O’Brien had some kind words to say about long-term Radiohead collaborator (and currently working with The Smile) Nigel Godrich, who helped co-produce the album: “he did a beautiful job .. think it was his first production work .. we knew he was the one”. They were right – Godrich’s been a mainstay in their production credits ever since, right up until their most recent album A Moon Shaped Pool (2016).

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A post shared by Ed O’Brien (@eobofficial)

And if he’s being this nice about their co-producer, he might as well say something about his fellow bandmates, referring to them as his “Brothers, Philip, Colin, Jonny and Thom .. All love“.

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ed O’Brien (@eobofficial)

Despite a lack of new studio LPs as of recent, it’s not like Radiohead’s members have been starving the public of new music as of late. O’Brien’s debut solo album Earth was released back in 2020 and was followed by a brief tour in North America before Covid cut it short. It received good marks from the likes of NME, whose 4-star review said it proves O’Brien to be the band’s “secret weapon“.

As for Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, they went along and made themselves a nice new band with drummer Tom Skinner (of Sons of Kemet). The Smile released their debut album last week, titled A Light for Attracting Attention and more of which you can read about here. They also began a European tour last Monday. They may be getting older, but that doesn’t mean the music has to stop just yet.

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.