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It may be imprudent to speculate about the future of Radiohead, a highly influential band. However, when faced with this confident, smooth, and melodious successor to 2022’s A Light for Attracting Attention, it is clear that The Smile is currently receiving the full efforts of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – this stripped-down, nimble version of their sound, with assistance from Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner.
To A Light…’s funkiness and rage, Wall of Eyes adds psychedelia, 70s German motorik and the strings of the London Contemporary Orchestra. It’s a more considered, unspooling record, but maintains the Smile’s high bar. The band’s touring schedule has allowed this fresh Smile album to grow quite organically out of its predecessor. A number of songs destined for Wall of Eyes have been debuted live and worked into set lists over the past couple of years. Bending Hectic, Wall of Eyes’s nail-biting car-accident set piece, came out a year ago, ostensibly as a standalone. (A live album recorded at Montreux jazz festival was released in December 2022 followed by a 2023 limited-edition vinyl EP, Europe: Live Recordings.)
The popular song Friend of a Friend first appeared in 2022 under the name People on Balconies during a live performance. The lyrics tell the story of neighbors gathering outside in Italy, a common occurrence during the Covid-19 lockdowns (Yorke’s significant other, Dajana Roncione, is Italian). The situation quickly takes a negative turn (“we take a tumble”) and becomes suspicious (“All of that money/ Where did it go?”). With a piano and increasingly tense strings, Friend of a Friend combines elements of jazz and a surprise nod to the Beatles with the Smile.
Some of the songs, like Under Our Pillows, which features a prominent guitar part by Greenwood, have been shared through fan-recorded videos on YouTube. The melancholic and nostalgic Teleharmonic, with added flute, was previously featured in the television series Peaky Blinders under a different name. Presenting their work in various ways has become common among artists, from releasing new songs all at once to slowly revealing them through social media. The fact that there are live fan favorites that have not yet been officially recorded gives the impression that Smile is more than just a side project, and is actively developing a significant body of work in real time.
There have been many spin-offs from Radiohead in the past, such as Atoms for Peace, solo albums from Thom Yorke (usually electronic), Jonny Greenwood’s film scores for Paul Thomas Anderson, and a solo project from Ed O’Brien. However, The Smile is now more than just a side project and feels like a living, dynamic entity, just as important as Yorke and Greenwood’s main band. The duo naturally brings continuity between their various projects; “Wall of Ice” was once rumored to be a possible EP title for Radiohead. Similar to Damon Albarn’s many musical endeavors, their core themes and distinctive melodic voices often remain consistent across different configurations.
It’s worth pointing up the differences that remain, of course. A crucial one is Skinner, who has also drummed for Floating Points and Kano. He is a decade younger than O’Brien and Yorke, and his role, in theory, has been to add even more complex rhythms to Yorke and Greenwood’s often knotty cat’s cradles of music. But he is also a skilled multi-instrumentalist with an entirely fresh set of inputs, whose keyboard credits confirm an increasingly expanded brief.
Another is more of a vibe. In the Smile, it feels like Yorke and Greenwood become liberated to sidestep the expectations, admin and headaches that must come when booting up the mothership. You can see the appeal: three musicians, sometimes augmented by saxophonist Robert Stillman; they can move more nimbly and create modern classical/funk hybrid jams to their hearts’ contents.
Yorke could be fulminating against any number of things on Read the Room, a superb three-legged processional that turns into a motorik prowl halfway through. But the more skittish among Radiohead fans, already a group self-selecting for twitchiness, could easily project a great deal on to these lyrics. “And when the time is right,” sings Yorke, “And when the end has come/ Maybe you can’t, maybe you can’t/ Be arsed for half a million.”
The main issue with Wall of Eyes is its lack of innovation. As a sophomore album, most of it is already available online with only two new additions. The final track, “You Know Me!”, appears to be a tender love song with a twist as Yorke’s high-pitched vocals question those who believe they understand him, possibly including music critics.
The subtle, unfurling I Quit, meanwhile, marries guitar, piano and percussion to create an arpeggiating Doppler effect strafed by electronics. “This is my stop, this is the end of the trip,” sings Yorke. In the same breath he’s ruminating on “conscience” and “brotherhood” and “a new path out of the madness, to wherever it goes”. That path may well be shaped like a smile.
Source: theguardian.com
