release date: Jan. 26, 2024
format: digital (8 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,70
producer: Sam Petts-Davies
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Wall of Eyes" (4 / 5) - 2. "Teleharmonic" - 3. "Read the Room" - 4. "Under Our Pillows" - 7. "Bending Hectic"
2nd studio album by The Smile following nearly two years after A Light for Attracting Attention (May 2022) with Petts-Davis as producer - he previously produced Thom Yorke's solo soundtrack Suspiria (2018) for Luca Guadagnino's remake of a Dario Argento horror classic.
Although, the album has been made with a new producer, it really doesn't fall far from the trio's first album and you could also argue that the project here doesn't expose a tone that essentially differs from that of Radiohead, perhaps because that band's musical centre is constituted by Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood who are 2/3 of The Smile. And although, many compositions were nearly finished by Greenwood and Yorke in the Summer of '23, all songs and music here is credited the band only.
The now two studio albums by The Smile are so much alike that it's tempting to regard them as two chapters of the same book, or two sides of the same coin, and that's the only snag to a otherwise fine follow-up. On the positive side, you could add that it's really nice to have renowned artists like Yorke, Greenwood, and Skinner, who choose to make an album with focus on musical experimentation instead of going mainstream pop, and in that regard, the trio still offers a refreshing and challenging side-step to the Grammy Awards' self-centrered spotlight of make-believe where everything is about performance.
Recommended.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, NME, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, 😮Pitchfork 8,5 / 10, 👎Exclaim! 3 / 5 stars ]
