When Tom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, accompanied by drummer Tom Skinner, performed at Glastonbury in May 2021 under the label "The Smile", I thought it was a pseudonym for Radiohead. I listened to a bootleg of eight new songs convinced that The Smile would break up and Radiohead would announce a new release. The last album A moon shaped pool it came out back in 2016. But The Smile not only didn't disband, but started releasing single after single, and released an album the following May A Light for Attracting Attention.
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The first thing that caught my eye was the aggressiveness. Greenwood, who was always careful not to be present as a classic rock guitarist, appeared in Smile unscrewed, intrusive, full of hectic riffs. It is enough to listen You Will Never Work on Television Again. The shortening of the songs to a punkish three minutes and the loss of atmosphere pretty much suffocated me. Except she outsmarted me We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings, I could only point out a positive shot by Tom Skinner.
It wasn't until I heard their performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival (July 2022) that The Smile started to intrigue me. Medley Free in the Knowledge/ The Hair Dryer of 12 minutes presented the band in a completely different light. They proved that their chemistry comes from jamming. Smile's Montreux set was certainly a baptism of fire for them (selections were released as a live album in December), and certainly provided the matrix for this album's sound.
Simplicity is the main characteristic of the album Wall of Eyes. The album is both more homogeneous and calmer than the first one. Which does not mean that he is tired, but that he is fully in control of the energy he emits. Known for songs full of chord changes and transitions, Yorke and Greenwood have reduced it to the bare minimum here. I would say that the bat of Tom Skinner, the former drummer of the jazz group Sons of Kemet, is most responsible for this. His infectious beat, which, as soon as he finds a phrase, just asks to be reproduced, without any transitions and complications, I can't help but compare it to the style of Jaki Liebejt, the drummer of the band Can. Although this German band is a must-read for the other two (Radiohead covered their early stuff The Thief), Skinner appears to be responsible for motor skills the atmosphere that carries the album.
The first, title thing already speaks in favor of minimalism. Yorke's percussive acoustics steadily carry the song, occasionally discreetly underlined by Skinner's tones and the strings of the London Contemporary Orchestra. next, Teleharmonic, opens with a oneiric synth under which one of the most beautiful bass parts of this line-up gradually breaks through, and York's "Payback" sounds as gentle as "Baby!" next, Read the Room, is a combination of an infectious drone riff and a straight motorik section that Skinner effortlessly rides over Greenwood's 11/4. As on the first album, odd rhythms dominate: the composition is inclined to fives for some reason. York's whisper "1-2-3-4-5", follows the listener at the exit from Wall of Eyes (5/4), the five is the final thing on the first side, Under our Pillows, which ends with a piece of specific music, but the fifth in swing sounds the most convincing Friend of a Friend. Yorke opens things up on bass, then is joined very immediately by piano, then a syncopated drum, and suddenly you're hooked, no matter what strings follow next. The groove is associated with take five Dave Brubeck, perhaps the most famous jazz quintet, and York says Stop looking over our shoulder. After silence I Quit follows the climax of the album, Bending Hectic of eight minutes. What starts out as a casual string picking and croon on vocals, it builds to a slow crescendo to a climax in the chorus, where Greenwood stomps on distortion for the only time. The song is a masterclass in dynamics. The album closes soothingly You know me with Indian-oriental motifs.
It's hard not to think of the Beatles from the period with the album Sgt. Pepper- a. String arrangements are responsible for that, but there is also something in the structure of the songs. The end Friend of a Friend, both because of the violins and because of the whispering into the megaphone, drags to the end I am the Walrus. Final transition to Bending Hectic bridged by a single note played by countless strings, reminds of A Day in the Life. Finally, You know me and his singing style and choice of scale evoke the spirit of George Harrison from Within You Without You. York has the Beatles in his blood, but at the same time consciously plays with references to their catalog.
Wall of Eyes it has an organic wholeness that was missing from the first album, where there was a hesitation between tight and loose songs. Yorke's vocals are still credited with a full range of emotions. I'm glad that the jamming approach prevailed and that Skinner became a full member of the band: that's why the album gives such an impression of lightness. I don't remember Radiohead ever sounding this casual. Regardless of the RH-factor, The Smile shows with this album that it has its own history. Its survival suggests that the idea of a parent band is outdated. When David Byrne was asked why he didn't get Talking Heads back together, he said: "I'd feel like I was back living with my parents." In my opinion, that goes for The Smile as well. That's it, I said, so chase me on June 14 around the Hangar, where the band will perform for the first time in front of the Belgrade audience. If you ask me, we've hardly had a livelier band in sight.
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