The Smile by Alex Lake
Many indie/alt heads will tell you that Thom Yorke can do no wrong. The vocalist and multi-instrumentalist seems to master anything he touches, waving his invisible magic wand and creating something strange and beautiful to hear. He experienced both Top 40 stardom and elite acclaim in Radiohead (“Karma Police,” “Creep”), experimented well with solo work (2006’s The Eraser), and ruled the festival circuit with rock supergroup Atoms for Peace.
As it goes for many bands, the men of Radiohead have always found it healthy to explore their own separate projects, and before fans knew it, Yorke was out with yet another brilliant musical pursuit: The Smile quietly released their debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention, in 2022 after performing a few London shows the previous year.
Composed of Yorke, fellow Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood on lead guitar (and occasionally harp) and Tom Skinner on drums and percussion, The Smile came together during the COVID-19 pandemic. Produced by longtime Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich, A Light for Attracting Attention shows Yorke and Greenwood at their alt-rock best, harkening back to Radiohead’s “Hail to the Thief” era with an air of psychedelia and rousing guitar work reminiscent of post-punk and progressive rock jams.
The album as a whole reflects on the promise of a new beginning, the fragility of life and the urgency to embrace it. “Pana-vision” is a beautiful mix of piano and strings, with Yorke crooning: “I am staring straight ahead / A view that is so wide / Like it’s gonna break / It’s like it holds me in its gaze.”
Skinner, who co-founded Sons of Kemet, showcases his jazz drumming skills well on “The Smoke,” accompanied by Greenwood’s complex yet razor-tight riffs. On a three-song NPR Tiny Desk set performed in November and posted three days into the new year (now at 1.5 million views) Yorke is having a genuinely good time: He kicks off playing piano on “Pana-vision” and switches to bass guitar on “The Smoke” and “Skrting On the Surface,” relishing in this little space where his boundless creativity can run.
The Smile perform Thursday, June 29 at 8pm at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. thesmiletheband.com ~ Olivia Feldman
